Roomies
by ocfanatic2013
Summary: Santana Lopez deals with losing her best friend/roomate. She meets her new roommate, Rachel Berry . Will these to roomies hate each other, or become something more than just roommates? Story is better than summary, I promise. Eventually a Pezberry pairing
1. Chapter 1

Santana Lopez walked into her dorm room. She'd been staying in the same room since sixth grade when she'd began attending Westerly Academy, a boarding school in Malibu, California. She'd had the same roommate the entire time and they'd quickly become best friends. Now, going into junior year, she still had her room, but not her best friend. Brittany Pierce had been expelled at the end of thier sophomore year, but not because she had done anything wrong. She had taken the blame so that Santana didn't get caught with pot on campus. Santana felt like an incredibly horrible best friend for letting Brittany do that and a douche for never saying anything. She sighed as she saw Brittany's bed. Every year, Brittany had always arrived before Santana. This was the first time she'd ever walked in on the first day of move in and not seen Brittany. She was silently hoping that she wouldn't get a new roommate, just in case Brittany somehow managed to get back into Westerly. She began to unpack her things.

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry was frantically trying to find the registration line. She wanted to find her room. She had never been to boarding school before, but she had insisted that her dads not accompany her to registration. She finally found the line and saw that it was considerably shorter than she had anticipated. Within fifteen minutes, she was at the front of the line and was talking to the faculty member that was working the table.<p>

"Hi. My name is Rachel Berry. I'm a new student at Westerly Academy this year." Rachel introduced herself. The teacher, a red-haired woman with rather large eyes and a huge bow on her shirt smiled up at Rachel.

"Hello Rachel. My name is Ms. Pillsbury. I'm the guidance counselor here at Westerly. Let's get you situated." Ms. Pillsbury said. She looked through a stack of files until she found Rachel's. Looking through it, she smiled as she read the file. "Well, you certainly are involved in many extra-curricular activites." Ms. Pillsbury commented. Rachel nodded in agreement.

"I try to get involved in everything I can. Extra-curriculars look great on college applications." Rachel said. Ms. Pillsbury nodded absently as she continued to read.

"You were a member of the Black Student Organization?" she asked, looking up at Rachel curiously. Rachel nodded.

"One of my fathers is black. I have always considered myself to be half-black, even though I have no idea which one of my dads is my biological father." Rachel said. Ms. Pillsbury nodded again and continued reading.

"And you were in the choir at your old school which was... William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio." she said.

"Briefly. I was... asked to leave because of my desire to always be in front. They had us stand on risers like statues. I prefer to move around while I sing." Rachel said. Ms. Pillsbury smiled.

"Like a show choir." she said. Rachel nodded. "Well, we have a new club this year. Its a Glee Club and that's exactly what they do. They move around, do choreography, and all that fun stuff. You might consider checking it out." Ms. Pillsbury offered. Rachel smiled.

"I'd love to. Who would I contact?" Rachel asked.

"Mr. Schuester. He's also our Spanish teacher. There's a club fair in the commons tomorrow at 4 . He'll have a booth." Ms. Pillsbury said. Rachel nodded.

"I'll be sure to stop by. Can I get my room assignment, please?" Rachel asked.

"Oh! Right. I'm so sorry about that. You'll be staying in room 324 of Kenting Hall, which is two buildings away from here. You'll have a roommate, her name is Santana Lopez. She's a junior, just like you. Here, I'll escort you to your room and explain everything to Santana." Ms. Pillsbury said. Rachel nodded and followed the woman to her room.

* * *

><p>Santana was still unpacking. She came across a framed picture of herself and Brittany. She ran a finger over the blonde's face and sighed. "I'm so sorry, B." she whispered. She slightly jumped when there was a knock on her door. She set the frame down and walked over to open the door. She sighed as she saw the guidance counselor. "Ms. Pillsbury, I told you. I don't need weekly counselling sessions. I'm good now." Santana said.<p>

"No, Santana. I'm not here about that. I've brought your new roommate." Ms. Pillsbury said. Santana swallowed hard.

"So... B's really not coming back?" Santana asked. Ms. Pillsbury smiled apologettically.

"Santana, we talked about this. Brittany's been expelled." Ms. Pillsbury said softly. Santana nodded.

"Fine, where is she?" Santana asked, referring to her new roommate. Ms. Pillsbury moved aside so that a small girl was in Santana's line of vision. Santana gave her a once over and resisted rolling her eyes. The girl could have been hot, if it weren't for the clothes. Her new roommate was decked out in a black pleated skirt with an red and blue argyle sweater and knee socks. She had a headband and on her feet were penny loafers.

"Santana Lopez, meet Rachel Berry. Rachel, this is Santana." Ms. Pillsbury said. The smaller girl stuck her hand out. It was obvious she expected to shake Santana's hand, so Santana reluctantly took the girl's hand and shook it before quickly pulling it back. "Well, I'll just leave you two to get to know each other." Ms. Pillsbury said, walking down the hall. Santana opened the door wider to allow the girl into the room.

"Hello, Santana. I'm looking forward to getting to know you." the girl said. (Santana had already forgotten her name.)

"Sure uh..." '_Think Santana. Think._' "Rachel?" she guessed the girl nodded. '_Good save, Lopez_' Santana thought. She stared motionless as Rachel set her things down on Brittany's bed. Rachel looked up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this your bed? I just assumed..." Rachel trailed off, looking at the stuff Santana had put on her own bed. Santana shook her head.

"No. You're fine. Its just... that was my friend's bed. We used to share this room." Rachel opened her mouth, but Santana cut her off. "Do you need help bringing all your stuff in? Because it's just sitting in the hallway." Santana said. Rachel nodded and Santana assisted in bringing Rachel's belongings in. After everything was in the room, Santana closed the door.

"Thank you, Santana." Rachel said.

"No problem. So where are you from?" Santana asked. Rachel looked slightly shocked at the Latina's attempt at small talk, but quickly recovered.

"I'm from a small town in Western Ohio. You've probably never heard of it." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"My mom lives in Western Ohio. Try me." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Uh... its called Lima." Rachel said. Santana raised both eyebrows. "Have you heard of it?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"My mom lives in Lima. I was born there, actually. We moved when I was three and my parents got divorced when I was in fifth grade. My mom moved back to Lima, where she grew up, and my older brother and I stayed living with my dad." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Really? What does your mom do? Maybe I've heard of her." Rachel said.

"Her name is Lucilia Ramirez. She's some bigshot real estate agent... well as big as you can be in a town as small as Lima. She's one of the partners in Ramirez and Fabray Real Estate. The other partner, Judy Fabray, she has a daughter who goes here. Quinn Fabray. She lives in Franklin, the next building over. Do you know her?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head. "That doesn't surprise me. She came here in seventh grade. That was the year her parents moved to Lima." Santana said.

"You mentioned that you and your brother stayed with your dad. Where do you live?" Rachel asked.

"My dad got a job in New York City. That's why we moved in the first place. He's the president of some big time advertising agency. We live in the Upper East Side." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "Have you ever been to New York?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head.

"I've always wanted to, though." Rachel said.

"You should go someday." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Do you visit Lima often?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.

"My mom and I don't have the best relationship... the reason she moved back to Lima is because the guy she cheated on my father with, aka, my step-father, lives there. The divorce is actually the reason I came here in the first place. My dad didn't want me and my brother around all that arguing and fighting and legal stuff." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Your brother goes here?" Rachel said. Santana shook her head.

"He graduated two years ago. He's starting his sophomore year at Yale this year." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Yale? Impressive." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"So do you have any siblings?" she asked. Rachel shook her head. "Oh... why'd you decide to come to Westerly?" Santana asked.

"I have a couple of friends that go here and I was tired of Lima, so I convinced my parents to let me come." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"I wasn't aware there were more people from Lima here." Santana said.

"They aren't from Lima. One's from Atlanta, one's from Washington, D.C., and the other's from Philadelphia. I met them at a camp that I went to every summer growing up." Rachel said. Deciding this conversation was coming to a close, she changed the subject. "This room is lovely. And the view is beautiful." she commented. Santana nodded in agreement.

"Just be thankfully we have a corner room." Santana said. Rachel looked confused. "The corner rooms are generally larger than all the other rooms and they have their own bathrooms. In sixth grade, my first year here, Brittany and I got stuck in the worst room you could imagine. It was disgusting. Somehow, we managed to convince a couple of girls in our grade to switch. I can't remember how, but we did. And that's how we ended up in here." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"And they were just okay with living in a disgusting room?" Rachel asked. Santana shrugged.

"They got their parents to donate money to have it renovated. It's nice, but having your own bathroom still beats sharing a bathroom with the rest of the hall." Santana said. Rachel nodded in agreement. She sat down on a free spot in her bed.

"So... this girl you're talking about... Brittany..." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"What about her?" Santana asked.

"Uh... Ms. Pillsbury mentioned that she got expelled... what did she do?" Rachel asked. Santana stared at her and for a moment, Rachel was fearful for her life. "That is, if you want to tell me..." Rachel trailed off.

"I don't." Santana snapped.

"I... I'm sorry, Santana. I didn't mean to pry." Rachel stammered.

"Well you did. How about we just unpack in peace and silence?" Santana asked, turning away from Rachel and ignoring Rachel's final attempts to talk to her. Finally, Rachel gave up and returned to her own unpacking in silence. There had never been a silence so uncomfortable in that room.


	2. Chapter 2

Santana sat in the dining hall that night at dinner. She was sitting with Quinn Fabray, Finn Hudson, and Sam Evans. Sam was from Dallas and Finn was from Chicago. Sam and Quinn were dating and Santana had been with Finn for a few months. Quinn softly poked Santana with her fork. Santana made a disgusted face. "Um... ew. Please tell me you're gonna get a different fork." Santana said. Quinn smiled.

"Are you saying you aren't clean?" Quinn asked. Santana rolled her eyes.

"Was there a reason you poked me?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded.

"Who's that girl with Noah Puckerman? Is she new?" Quinn asked. Santana sighed.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? It's day one." Santana said, though she turned around to look. "Oh... that's Rachel Berry. She's my new roommate." Santana said quietly. Quinn's face immediately grew concerned.

"So... she's really not coming back?" Quinn asked. Santana shook her head. Finn grabbed his girlfriend's hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Santana looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"Yea... I guess." Santana said. Finn squeezed her hand and continued eating. Santana looked back at Rachel and Noah before turning back around.

"So... where's your new rommate from?" Sam asked. Quinn glared and kicked him. "Ow! Damn, Quinn that hurt." Sam said.

"Shut up." Quinn said pointedly.

"It's okay Quinn. Uh... she's from actually from Lima." Santana said, looking at Quinn. The blonde paused with her fork centimeters away from her mouth.

"Lima as in Lima, Ohio?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded. "Huh... that's really weird. Did you say her name was Rachel Berry?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded again. "Never heard of her." Quinn said.

"Quinn, how much time have you actually spent in Lima since your family moved there?" Santana asked.

"Good point." Quinn agreed. After they finished eating and put their dirty plates in the rotating dumbwaiter, the boys said good night and went back to the room they shared. Santana and Quinn walked in the direction of their buildings.

"So... you okay with having a new roommate?" Quinn asked. Santana shrugged.

"There's not much I can do about it." Santana said.

"I know how guilty you feel, but you have to know that if Brittany had wanted you to be the one to get in trouble, she would have just let you get caught." Quinn said.

"I should have said something. I shouldn't have let this happen." Santana said.

"San, Brittany did this because she cares about you. She didn't want you to get hammered by that bitch you call a mother. You know how laid back Britt's parents are. They probably didn't even bat an eye when she told them." Quinn said.

"Yea... but still-"

"If it'd been the other way around, I'd be having this conversation with her right now." Quinn said. Santana looked away. "San, either way you would have been without Brittany. At least this way, you aren't dealing with it alone." Quinn said.

"You mean like she is?" Santana asked. They arrived in front of Santana's building. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow." Santana said, walking into her building and going to her room. Rachel wasn't back yet, so Santana was able to have some time to think.

* * *

><p>"So how do you like your roommate?" Noah Puckerman asked Rachel as they were getting food.<p>

"She's... mysterious." Rachel said.

"Who are you rooming with again?" Noah asked.

"Santana Lopez." Rachel answered. Noah nodded. "Why?"

"Some stuff went down last year. Santana's best friend got expelled and she's probably having a hard time dealing with it." Noah said.

"What happened?" Rachel asked.

"She uh... she got caught with pot in her bag and Brittany took the fall so that Santana didn't get in trouble. See, Santana's had a history of getting into trouble around here and the dean told her that if she had another major screwup that was probably against the law, he'd have to call the cops. The only reason he hadn't called them before was because her dad and the dean were friends growing up. Brittany didn't have a history of breaking the rules or the law, so the worst she got was expulsion." Noah said.

"That's still pretty bad." Rachel said.

"Not as bad as it would have been for Santana." Noah said.

"True... is there anything else I should know about Santana?" Rachel asked.

"She's dating Finn Hudson right now, but everyone knows she was in love with Brittany. So watch out." Noah teased. Rachel laughed.

"I don't think that'll be a problem. Santana's not exactly my type." Rachel said.

"Really? Do I fall into that category?" Noah teased.

"No... you're too Jewish." Rachel said.

"Hey! You're Jewish too." Noah said. Rachel laughed as Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones walked up.

"Hey guys." they said as they sat down with the other two.

"So, Rach, how do you like Westerly so far?" Mercedes asked.

"I like it. Its really pretty." Rachel said.

"Who's your roommate?" Kurt asked.

"Santana Lopez." Rachel responded. Both stopped their motions. "Yea, I know about what happened. Noah told me." Rachel continued.

"Just... don't bring Brittany up, okay? That's your best chance at staying alive." Kurt advised. Rachel nodded and the group of friends continued to eat.

* * *

><p>Santana looked up from her place on her bed when she heard the door open. Rachel walked in and nodded at Santana, who turned away. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to the girl.<p>

"Santana?" she heard from behind. Sighing, she reluctantly turned around.

"What?" she asked.

"I... I'm sorry about prying earlier." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"Thanks." Santana said.

"I know about the pot." Rachel blurted out, covering her mouth the moment the last word left her mouth. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Look. Let's get one thing straight. You don't know anything about me and you sure as hell don't know anything about Brittany. And we're going to keep it that way. Let's just get through the next two years and then we'll never have to see each other again. You stay on your side of the room, and I'll stay on mine. The door and bathroom are in the middle and we each have our own closet, so that's not a problem. Just stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours, okay?" Santana said. Rachel nodded and Santana, having already changed into her pajamas, turned back around. "I'm going to sleep. I'm tired and my body is still on New York time. Try not to be to loud." Santana said.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Please let me know if you guys are enjoying this story. Just leave a review! Thanks! :)**

* * *

><p>The next morning, Santana woke up and the first thing she saw was her wall. For a second, she thought... <em>believed<em> that she would turn around see Brittany lying in the other bed in the room. However, when she turned over in her bed, she was disappointed as she saw the new girl... '_Damn it... what's her name again?_' Santana thought. She looked around for some sort of clue as to what her new roommate's name was. Her eyes landed on a framed photo that was on the desk. It was of a group of smiling people with '_We'll miss you, Rachel_' written on the border. '_Rachel. That's her name. I really have to stop forgetting that if I'm supposed to live with the girl. Although, if I have it my way, Brittany'll be back in this room where she belongs and new girl will soon be forgotten._' Santana thought. She got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. Just as she had finished brushing her teeth their was a knock on the door. She walked over and opened the door. "Yea?" she asked, seeing Rachel. The smaller girl was looking anywhere but Santana's eyes.

"Uh... I was just wondering if... well... are you... are you going to need the bathroom for very long?" Rachel asked.

"Do you need it?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.

"I didn't get a chance to shower last night." Rachel explained. Santana nodded.

"Well, I took one last night before you got back from dinner, so just let me brush my hair and put on my make up. I'll be right out and then you can have it." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Thank you, Santana." Rachel said, still not meeting the taller girl's eyes as she turned around. Santana nodded and closed the door. She decided not to be a bitch and didn't take forever and a day to finish her makeup. She emerged from the bathroom about fifteen minutes later.

"It's all yours, Rachel." she said to Rachel before going to look in her closet for an outfit. As soon as the door was closed, Santana grabbed a shirt and took off her pajama shirt to get changed. Just as the article of clothing was off, the bathroom door opened.

"Sorry I forgot my-" Rachel cut herself off as she saw the taller girlstanding in her bra. "Sorry. I'm so sorry. I just... I forgot my shampoo..." Rachel said, her eyes never leaving the Latina's chest. Santana quickly grabbed her shirt and attempted to throw it back on.

"It... Rachel, it's fine, okay? It's fine, just... can you please stop staring?" Santana said. Rachel quickly averted her eyes and went to find her shampoo.

"Sorry." she mumbled before disappearing back into the bathroom. Santana stared at the door before changing into her outfit and grabbing her bag to go to breakfast. She opened the door to exit the building and walk outside and literally ran into Quinn.

"Damn it." Santana said. She looked up and saw her friend. "Oh, hey Quinn. Try watching where you're going, why don't cha?" Santana teased. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"I was just coming to your room to see if you wanted to go to breakfast, bitch." Quinn said.

"Well, I was just on my way to your room, equal sized bitch. Let's go" Santana said. The two turned around and walked to the dining hall.

"So how was your first night with the new girl?" Quinn asked. Santana sighed.

"She brought up Brittany. Somehow, she heard about the incident and she called me on it. I told her to stay the hell out of my business. And then this morning, things were just freaking awkward. And _then_ she walked out of the bathroom this morning-" Quinn cut her off.

"You know, I'm s_till_ jealous you have your own bathroom." Quinn said. Santana rolled her eyes.

"You've been jealous since you came to Westerly, Quinn. Let it go." Santana said. Quinn laughed.

"Continue your story. She walked out of the bathroom..." Quinn encouraged.

"Right. She walked out of the bathroom this morning and I wasn't wearing a shirt. She stared at my boobs for like ten minutes." Santana said. Quinn scoffed.

"Ten minutes?" the blonde asked.

"Okay... maybe not that long. But she sure got a good look." Santana said. Quinn nodded.

"Oh wow, San... and here I was thinking Brittany would be the only roommate you went after. You really had me fooled" Quinn said. The Latina stopped in her tracks.

"I'm not going after her, Quinn. She's annoying, intruding, and her wardrobe is horrifying." Santana said. Quinn looked at her.

"I only got a quick glimpse of her in the dining hall last night, but she was kinda hot. I mean, I don't go that way but if I did I'd probably be into that." Quinn said. Santana sighed.

"What makes you think I play on that team?" Santana asked.

"Uh... you came out to me right before the incident." Quinn said. Santana looked away from her friend.

"I'm with Finn now." Santana said. Quinn sighed.

"San, you and I both know that that's just a cover up. Everyone knows you were in love with Brittany or at least they suspect it. The only one who doesn't is Finn, because he's an idiot." Quinn said.

"Why do you think I chose him?" Santana blurted out before she could catch herself. "Damn it." Santana said. The blonde smiled. "What are you smiling at, Fabray?" Santana asked.

"Santana, I think now is the perfect time for you to come out to me... _again_." Quinn said.

"I'm not breaking up with Finn." Santana said.

"You can't continue to use him to hide your true self. It's not fair to either of you, Santana." Quinn said.

"Quinn, I'm not hiding anything." Santana said.

"San, who are you trying to convince? You or me?" Quinn asked. Santana sighed.

"Fine!" Santana yelled. She lowered her voice. "I'm gay." she practically whispered. She glared at Quinn for a few moments. "Are you happy now?" she asked in slightly louder voice. Quinn smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. Can we go eat now?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded and they continued their walk to the dining hall. They got in the food line and each grabbed a tray. "So... what are you going to do about Rachel?" Quinn asked quietly.

"What about her?" Santana asked, giving Quinn a curious look.

"Well... you're gay, San. There's a very good possibility that she is, considering she stared at your boobs." Quinn said. Santana stared at her.

"Uh... Quinn, you are aware that just because two gay people live together doesn't mean that they automatically hook up, right?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded.

"No freaking duh, idiot. But there's obviously tension between you guys. I can see that and I haven't been around the two of you together. Hell, I haven't even met her." Quinn said.

"She's not my type. I'm not going to go for that. Can we please just drop it, Quinn?" Santana asked. Quinn backed off and nodded. They emerged with their breakfast and went to find a table. Just as Santana set her tray down, she noticed that she forgot her fork. She went to get one and almost ran into Rachel. "Oh... hey. I see you figured out the bathroom." Santana said awkwardly. Rachel nodded and allowed her eyes to briefly stray to Santana's chest before looking away with a blush, remembering the earlier incident.

"Yea... I did... Uh... are you going to that club fair in the commons this afternoon?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.

"Its not exactly my scene. Are you going to it?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.

"Ms. Pillsbury told me about the new Glee Club that they're starting this year." Rachel said. Santana's brow furrowed.

"What the hell is a Glee Club?" Santana asked. Rachel's eyes lit up.

"Its a type of choir where they do choreography rather than just stand there while singing." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds... interesting." Santana said.

"That sounds _interesting_? Are you joking? That sounds amazing." Rachel said.

"I'm guessing you're into music and singing and dancing?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.

"I was kicked off the choir at my old school for being to abrasive." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"You know, I can totally see that." Santana said. She reached around Rachel to grab a fork. "I should get back... to Quinn." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "Do you want... to join us?" she asked out politeness. Rachel could see that the the girl didn't really want her to join.

"No. I'm good. I have a group of people to sit with. But thanks. I'll see you around." Rachel said, walking past Santana. Santana walked back to Quinn, who was smirking at her from the table. "What?" Quinn shook her head. "Quinn, you obviously have something to say, so say it." Santana said. Quinn slightly laughed.

"That was a very long trip to get a fork." Quinn said. Santana rolled her eyes. "I mean, I'm just saying... that conversation with Rachel looked interesting." Quinn said.

"Shut up, Fabray. You don't know what you're talking about." Santana said. Quinn smiled.

"Admit it. You have it bad for your new roomie." Quinn teased. Santana kicked her under the table.

"No. I don't. Even if I weren't with Finn..." Santana trailed off. She spoke after a moment in a lower voice. "I... I mean, I'm not sure if... I don't think that I'm... Quinn, I'm not over Brittany yet." Santana whispered. Quinn nodded.

"Well, maybe she can help you get over Brittany." Quinn offered. Santana looked at her.

"But what if I don't want to get over her?" Santana asked. Quinn smiled sympathetically.

"San, there's no guarantee that you'll ever see her again." Quinn said. Santana looked at her.

"I just... I love her, Quinn. I can't just get over her." Santana said. Quinn nodded her sympathy. "Look, I know there's no guarantee that I'll see her or that she even loves me back. She was always loyal to that boyfriend she had back in Miami." Santana said.

"Does Rachel have a boyfriend?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care. I don't like her, Quinn." Santana said. She finished her meal and went to put her tray away. She turned around, saw Rachel with Noah and some other people Santana didn't know. She quickly left the dining hall. Quinn ran out of the room, calling her name. She turned around. "What Quinn?" Santana asked.

"Why are you denying it?" Quinn asked.

"Deny what, Quinn?" Santana asked. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Don't play stupid, Santana. You know what I'm talking about." Quinn said. Santana sighed.

"There's nothing to admit or deny, Quinn. I don't like Rachel that way. Hell, I'm not even sure I like her as a friend. I barely know her." Santana said. Quinn nodded.

"But maybe you should give her a chance. I'm sure she didn't mean to hit a nerve by bringing up Brittany." Quinn said. Santana shrugged. Quinn decided to let it go. "Do you want to go that club fair this afternoon?" Quinn asked. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Since when do you do clubs? And since when do I look like I want to go to a club fair?" Santana asked. Quinn smirked.

"Since today. Do you want to go?" Quinn asked again. Santana hesitated. "Come on. Its a new year. It'll be a good distraction." Quinn said. Santana sighed.

"Fine. But we ignore the damn Glee Club booth." Santana said. Quinn frowned.

"What the hell is a Glee Club?" Quinn asked. Santana laughed.

"Those were my words exactly. Apparently its a show choir thing. Singing and dancing, crap like that." Santana said. Quinn nodded.

"That actually kind of sounds fun." Quinn said. Santana shook her head. "Why not?" Quinn asked.

"Rachel wants to join the Glee Club." Santana said. Quinn nodded.

"Fine. No Glee Club. Let's just go check out what other clubs there are." Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"Okay. Meet me out here at four." Santana said. Quinn nodded and Santana went into her room. Rachel wasn't back and Santana grabbed her laptop to log onto Facebook. The first thing she noticed was that Brittany was online. She hovered her mouse of the chat button, but before she had the chance to start up a conversation with the girl a chat box popped up.

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_Hey S! How's it going at Westerly?_

Santana smiled at the screen.

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_Hey B! Its different without you. I really wish you hadn't done that._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_Either way we'd be having this conversation..._

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_That's exactly what Quinn said._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_She was always smarter than either of us... did you get a new roommate?_

Santana stared at the screen.

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_Yea... they put me with this new girl, Rachel._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_What's she like?_

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_I don't really know yet... haven't really talked to her._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_Why not?_

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_I keep hoping you're going to show up._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_S, we both know that can't happen. You should get to know this girl. Who knows? Maybe you'll actually like her and want to become friends with her. Soon, you're going to be replacing me._

Santana stared at the screen in horror.

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_That will NEVER happen._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_San... giver her a chance. For me?_

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_I'll try, B. That's all I can promise._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_That's good enough for now... hey I have to go. My mom wants me to go with her to register me for some private school here. But can we talk later this afternoon?_

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_Yea, definitely. You can always call or text me if I'm not online._

**Brittany S. Pierce  
><strong>_Yea... definitely. I'll talk to you later, S. Luv ya._

Santana smiled.

**Santana Lopez  
><strong>_I'll talk to you later, B. Luv ya too._

Just as Santana logged off Facebook, Rachel walked in. Santana nodded her acknowledgement.

"Hey." Santana said.

"Hey." Rachel replied.

"Uh... how was your breakfast?" Santana asked. Rachel looked at her, surprised.

"It was good..." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"Look, Rachel, I'm sorry about last night. I was out of line. There's some stuff that you should know." Santana said.

"You don't have to explain, Santana." Rachel said. Santana shook her head.

"Yea... I do. We're going to have to live together and you should know the full story, not the many variations that are floating around campus." Santana said. Rachel nodded and sat down on her own bed. "Look... at the end of last year, Brittany and I were on our way back to our room from the teen club that's just outside of campus. Britt didn't know, but I had bought some pot while we were out. For some reason, campus security suspected I had done something wrong and they searched my bag. That's how they found the pot that I'd bought. Brittany instantly claimed it was hers and she'd slipped it in there when I wasn't looking. Thankfully, we weren't drunk. Anyway, she did it because she knew the dean would have to call the cops on this time and with Brittany, he wouldn't call the cops. She did it to protect me. All summer, I've regretted allowing her to do that. I don't feel good about it and I'm not proud of it. I don't know why I bought the pot. I'd never done that before. I'd never even seen it in real life. I just wanted to try it. Since then, I've never even considered buying anymore." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Wow... thanks for telling me that. I don't know if this is going to ruin the moment, but I really admire that you haven't bought anymore pot since then." Rachel said. Santana nodded and smiled slightly.

"It just really hurts to lose her because I... never mind. That's too personal." Santana said.

"You can tell me if you want." Rachel encouraged.

"I don't know you that well, Rachel." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"I completely understand. We're making progress though." Rachel said. Santana nodded before blurting it out.

"I'm in love with her." she said. Rachel's head snapped up.

"You're... Santana, are you gay?" Rachel asked softly. Santana nodded.

"Is that a problem?" Santana challenged. Rachel quickly shook her head.

"No... not at all. I have two gay fathers." Rachel offered. Santana nodded thoughtfully. "And... I'm gay as well." Rachel whispered. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Wow... sterotype much?" Santana teased. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "I'm not that surprised, actually." Santana continued. Rachel arched an eyebrow.

"You barely know me, Santana." Rachel said.

"That's true, but you did stare at my chest this morning when you walked in on me changing." Santana said.

"I was _not _staring." Rachel argued. Santana rolled her eyes.

"Hey, its okay. I don't exactly blame you for wanting to look at me." Santana said. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well I'm going to go now." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"You know, you're actually okay." Santana said.

"Uh... thanks, I guess." Rachel said as she left the room. Santana sighed. At four she walked outside and saw Quinn waiting for her. They walked to the commons area and walked around, looking at all the clubs. Santana saw Rachel with the same people she ate breakfast with, but didn't say anything to the other girl. She turned to talk to Quinn when she noticed the other girl wasn't next to her anymore. She was about to look for Quinn when Rachel walked up to her. "Hey... I thought that you said that this wasn't your scene." Rachel said. Santana shrugged.

"Its not." Santana said. Rachel's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Then why are you here?" she asked. Santana shrugged again.

"Well, my friend Quinn wanted to come and I had nothing else to do since classes don't start until next week, so... here I am." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Here you are." she said. Santana nodded uncomfortably.

"Yep." she said, rockng on back and forth on her feet. Rachel raised her eyebrow.

"So... where's Quinn?" Rachel asked. Santana looked around.

"Uh... I'm not really sure, actually." Santana admitted. Rachel nodded.

"Well, that's cool... well, I have to-" Rachel was cut off.

"Santana, here's the rehearsal schedule. We're happy to have you aboard. Oh and here's yours too, Rachel. Welcome to Westerly Academy. I knew starting a Glee Club would be a wonderful idea. We might not be having a lot of people sign up, but soon, they'll be lining up at the door, I promise you that." Mr. Schuester said. Rachel smiled. Santana heard the first half of the sentence as she looked down at the paper being shoved into her hand.

"Wait... hold up a sec... rehearsal schedule? Rehearsal schedule for what?" Santana asked.

"The Glee Club. Quinn came over and signed you too up. She said you were both extremely excited to join." Mr. Schuester explained. Quinn walked over.

"Hey San. What's going on?" Quinn asked. She looked down at the paper. "Oh.. I have to go." Quinn said. Santana reached out and grabbed her arm.

"No, you don't. You signed us up for Glee Club?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded. Mr. Schuester and Rachel had walked away. Santana pulled her outside. "Why the hell did you do that?" Santana asked.

"Because Rachel's going to be there and you can get to know her." Quinn said.

"I'm roommates with her. I think I can get to know her there." Santana said. They turned as they heard footsteps behind them and saw Rachel as she walked toward their building. Santana turned around. "I need to go talk to her about Glee Club. Just know that you're on my list, Fabray." Santana said.

"I'm not scared. Just go talk to your girl." Quinn said.

"She is _not_ my girl." Santana hissed before turning around to follow Rachel. She entered the room and saw Rachel sitting on her bed, writing on a legal pad. "Are you already writing home?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head.

"Whenever I'm stressed or sad or anything like that, I write down my feelings." Rachel explained. Santana nodded.

"Which emotion are you feeling right now?" Santana asked. Rachel shrugged.

"I don't really know yet. I just knew I needed to write." Rachel said. Santana nodded and sat down on the couch that was in their room.

"So... about the Glee Club..." Santana trailed off.

"Look, Santana, if you don't want to be there, then don't show up." Rachel interrupted. Santana nodded.

"I'm willing try it out, but I've never really been in a choir before. What am I supposed to do?" Santana asked.

"You just do whatever Mr. Schuester tells you to do. Its that simple." Rachel said, ripping the piece of paper of the pad. She stood up and handed it to Santana.

"You don't have to let me read it." Santana said, trying to hand it back to her. Rachel just stepped away.

"Its a letter to you." was all she said before leaving the room. Santana's eyes went wide as she looked at the paper.

"A letter to me?" she whispered to herself. She read the paper.

_Dear Santana,_

_Look... I know we've known each other for like a day and a half, but I thought we had made progress earlier when you told me all that stuff. But you seemed kind of... evasive at the club fair. I honestly want to get to know you and I think we could really be friends, but I don't want to deal with the hot and cold. Just let me know if you want to be friends. From what I've seen so far, I think you're a really cool person. You seem really nice... and... don't take this the wrong way because I'm not trying to be creepy, but I think you're beautiful. I don't know if anyone's ever told you that, but you are... well, I've probably creeped you out enough, so I'll see you around. I'm going to stay with my friend Mercedes tonight and tomorrow I'll go talk to someone about a room transfer._

_Sincerely, _

_Rachel Barbara Berry_

Santana read the letter four or five times before looking up. She didn't want Rachel to feel like that. She tried to think but she looked over and noticed Rachel had left her phone on her bed. She knew the girl would eventually come back for it. Next thing she knew, there was a knock on her door. She walked over and opened it. "Rachel... why didn't you use your key?" Santana asked.

"I left it and my phone on the bed." Rachel said, entering to get the things. Santana closed the door and stood in front of it. "Santana, I'd like to leave." Rachel said. Santana shook her head.

"No." Santana said.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked.

"You can't leave." Santana said. Rachel crossed her arms.

"And why not?" Rachel asked.

"Because I want to talk." Santana said. Rachel sat down on her bed.

"Then talk." Rachel said.

"I read your letter..." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "And... I thought it was really nice. And sweet. Thank you." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"You're welcome." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"And thank you for telling me that I'm beautiful. No one's ever said that to me. Brittany never even said that to me." Santana added quietly. Rachel's expression quickly changed.

"Really?" Rachel whispered. Santana nodded.

"Really." Santana said. Santana walked over and sat next to Rachel. "I'd really like to get to know you Rachel. You seem really cool and if you look past the sweaters, you actually pretty hot." Santana said. Rachel looked up.

"You think that I'm hot?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded. "No one's ever called me that before." Rachel said.

"Hey... when you hear it from so many people, it begins to lose its effect." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "I think that you're beautiful, Rachel. And you shouldn't let other people tell you differently." Santana said. Rachel smiled softly.

"So... what are you trying to say? I'm actually kind of confused right now." Rachel said. Santana's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?" Santana asked.

"Are you saying you want a relationship or do you want to be friends?" Rachel said quickly. Santana frowned.

"I... I think we should get to know each other first. I... I'm still trying to get past what happened last year, but I really do want to get to know you." Santana said. Rachel nodded and looked down. Without thinking, Santana reached over, lifted Rachel's chin with her index finger, and softly kissed the smaller girl. When she pulled away, she smiled at Rachel's confused expression. "But... I'm not exactly ruling anything out." Santana said. Rachel smiled softly and nodded. "Are you still going to move out?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head.

"No... I'm not going to move out." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"Well, good. Because that would have put a dent in our attempt to get to know each other." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "So..." Santana was cut off by feeling Rachel's lips on hers. Rachel pulled away and Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry... but you got to kiss me and I just wanted to return the favor." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"Smooth, Berry... really smooth." Santana said, getting up from the bed. Rachel smiled at the girl.

"I'm really excited that you want to get know each other, Santana." Rachel said. Santana smiled back.

"I'm excited too." Santana said, sitting on her bed. '_Really excited._' Santana thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Santana woke up and smiled as she thought of what had happened a few days before before. She and Rachel had stayed up for a while that night, just talking and getting to know each other. It wasn't awkward and it wasn't forced. It felt natural to spend the night talking to the girl. They'd finally crashed around two thirty in the morning, but Santana was up at seven the next day because she couldn't sleep. Now, four days later, it was the day before classes were supposed to start. Santana woke up saw the other girl sleeping and quietly pulled on a pair of sweats so she could go get some breakfast. She saw the girl stir and felt the need to ask her if she wanted food. She quietly made her way over to the other bed and gently shook the other girl. Rachel's eyes fluttered open. Santana smiled. "Hey." she whispered.

"What's going on? What's on fire?" Rachel asked sleepily. Santana laughed gently.

"Nothing's on fire, Rachel. I'm just going to go get some breakfast. Do you want me to get you a muffin or something?" Santana asked. Rachel looked at the clock.

"Actually, I'll just come with you, if you don't mind waiting a few minutes." Rachel said. Santana stepped back.

"I don't mind at all." she said, and moved to make her bed. Just as she was finishing, the bathroom door opened and Rachel walked out. Santana smirked. "Were you hoping I was changing again?" she teased. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Ha. You wish." was the response Santana got. Laughing, both girls walked out of the room. They went to the dining hall and ate breakfast and talked together. Just as they were walking out of the building after eating, Santana saw Quinn, Finn, and Sam.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Santana said, coming to a stop when they reached her friends. They all said hello and Finn hugged Santana. "Oh. Guys, this is Rachel Berry, my roommate. Rachel, this is my friend Quinn Fabray, her boyfriend Sam Evans and my boyfriend Finn Hudson." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Hi." she said.

"So Rachel, Santana said that you're from Lima?" Quinn said. Rachel nodded.

"Yea. I grew up there. She told me that your parents live there." Rachel said. Quinn nodded.

"I haven't really spent much time there, though." Quinn said. Rachel smiled.

"Most people from Lima wish they were able to say that." Rachel said. Quinn laughed.

"So... we're just going to go eat, so we'll see you later." Finn said, glancing curiously at Rachel. Santana raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend's weird behavior, but said nothing about it. She and Rachel decided to walk around campus, Santana giving Rachel an unofficial tour.

"So... I didn't really spend much time with him, but I get the feeling your boyfriend doesn't like me." Rachel said.

"He doesn't know you, so he can't possibly dislike you." Santana said as they walked. Rachel nodded.

"Do you think that he's the one?" Rachel asked.

"I know that he isn't the one." Santana answered simply. Rachel looked at her.

"Then why do you date him?" Rachel asked.

"I needed someone to help me with getting over Brittany and he was perfect for that. Cute, nice, and most importanly, available.." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"But... it didn't work, did it?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.

"No, it didn't. Finn's a great guy, but he's just not what I want as far as relationships go. He's an amazing friend, but I can't picture being with him for the rest of my life. Or any guy, for that matter." Santana said.

"Maybe Finn didn't help you move on from Brittany because you aren't interested in guys." Rachel said.

"Are you offering something, Berry?" Santana teased. Rachel rolled her eyes and smiled.

"As your _friend, _I'm saying maybe you just need to find the right person to help you get over her." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"Right. My friend." Santana said. They walked in a comfortable silence for a moment, until Santana suddenly stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

"As my friend, do you think I should stay with Finn when I know there's no future for us?" Santana asked.

"Santana, I can't make that decision for you." Rachel said.

"I just need your opinion." Santana said. Rachel bit her lip and shook her head.

"No, I don't. It's not fair to either one of you." Rachel said. Santana nodded. Suddenly, she kissed Rachel. Surprised, Rachel pulled back. "Wha... What are you doing?" she asked.

"Sorry... I'm sorry. I just had to be sure. I have to go." Santana said, running off.

"Be sure of what?" Rachel yelled. Sighing, she walked back to her room. Santana ran back to the dining hall and saw Finn walking out of the building.

"Finn." she called out. He turned around, smiling when he saw she was alone.

"Hey, babe." he said, trying to hug her. Santana pulled back. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Finn we need to talk." Santana said.

"Okay..." he said. Santana led him to a bench.

"Finn... I don't think that we should see each other anymore." Santana said.

"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?" Finn asked. Santana shook her head.

"No... its not anything like that. Its me. Finn... I'm gay. I knew that going into this relationship and I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I really hope you aren't mad at me, because I'd hate to lose you as a friend." Santana said. Finn nodded.

"I kind of always figured you had a thing for Britt." he said. Santana nodded. "And then that new girl Rachel-"

"Whoa. Rachel and I are just friends." Santana said. Finn smiled softly.

"But neither of you wants that to be the case." he said. Santana shook her head.

"I've only known her for a week." Santana said.

"San, all week you two have stayed in your room, getting to know each other. I mean, I know girls talk a lot, but you've got to feel like you've known her for longer than just one week." Finn said. Santana hesitated, but nodded. "Do you like her? I mean, the way you liked Brittany?" Finn asked.

"I don't know... I think it's too soon to tell." Santana said quietly. Finn nodded. "Can we just keep this whole me being gay thing under wraps? You can even tell people that you broke up with me, if you want." Santana said. Finn shook his head.

"I'll just tell people that we thought we were better off as friends." Finn said. Santana smiled. "And yes, I'll keep your secret. Who knows?" Finn asked.

"You, Quinn, Brittany, and Rachel." Santana answered.

"No one else will find out until you're ready." he promised as he hugged Santana.

"Thank you, Finn." Santana whispered.

"Anytime, San." Finn said. Santana smiled up at him. "I think you should go and talk to Rachel." he said.

"I think you're right." she said. She ran to her room and opened the door. "Rachel, can we talk?" she asked. She stopped when she saw a certain blonde sitting on the couch in the room. "Brittany... what are you doing here?" she asked. The girl stood up and smiled.

"I caught a flight to Malibu and snuck on campus. I had to see you." Brittany said. Santana accepted the hug she was being pulled into.

"Britt, you could get in so much trouble if you get caught." Santana said. The blonde shrugged.

"Yea, maybe. But you know what? You're worth it." Brittany said, kissing Santana. Suddenly the door opened and Rachel entered the room from the hallway.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had company. I'll leave." Rachel said.

"Rachel, wait." Santana said.

"It's fine. I'm sorry, to just barge into your room like this, but I realized I still had my extra key. You must be Santana's new roommate. I'm Brittany Pierce." the blonde introduced herself, extending her hand out to Rachel. The smaller girl shook it.

"Rachel Berry." Rachel said.

"So... how do you like Westerly?" Brittany asked.

"It's nice. I'm sure once classes start I won't feel the same way, but still..." Rachel said. Brittany laughed softly. "Well... I have to go meet some friends for lunch. It was nice meeting you, Brittany." Rachel said. The blonde smiled.

"You too, Rachel... wait, San didn't you want to talk to Rachel about something?" Brittany asked. The smaller brunette looked at the Latina curiously. Santana shook her head.

"It can wait." she mumbled. Rachel nodded and left the room.

"S... you want to sneak me off campus and go eat lunch someplace where I won't get in trouble for being?" Brittany asked. Santana nodded and successfully helped her friend sneak off the campus and went to their favorite nearby restaraunt. Once they were seated, Santana spoke.

"Why'd you come back?" Santana asked.

"I needed to see you again." Brittany said. Santana looked down. "I miss you, Santana." the blonde continued.

"I miss you too, but you can't just show up here. You could have gotten caught." Santana said.

"I know, but like I said, you're worth it. I love you, Santana." Brittany said.

"Do you?" Santana asked.

"I freaking took the blame for you about being in the posession of pot. I got expelled for you." Brittany said.

"But when I wanted to be with you, your boyfriend got in the way. When I offered to leave Westerly and go wherever it was you were going, once again your boyfriend got in the way. Everything comes down to the fact that you love him, not me." Santana said.

"He was there for me over the summer." Brittany said.

"You wouldn't let me come visit you, remember?" Santana responded.

"Where is all this coming from?" Brittany asked.

"This is years of pent up feelings that are finally coming out. Just as I was about to be over you, you come back. I need you to make up your mind and quit hurting me. Either choose me or choose him, but just make a choice." Santana said. Brittany looked down.

"I love you both." Brittany said.

"Well, you can't have us both, so make a damn choice already." Santana said. Brittany shook her head.

"I can't leave him, Santana." Brittany said. Santana nodded and their waiter walked up.

"Can I get you ladies anything?" he asked. Santana stood up.

"Actually, I was just leaving." Santana said. The waiter nodded and walked away. Santana turned to Brittany. "Goodbye Brittany. Please don't do this to me anymore. Its not fair to me." Santana said before turning around and walking out of the restaraunt. She walked back to the campus and went to her room. "Hey, Rach." she said, once again stopping in her doorway when she saw Rachel making out with another girl. "This is just not my freaking day." Santana muttered before walking out of the room. She ran down the hallway, ignoring Rachel calling her name.


	5. Chapter 5

"Santana! Santana wait!" Rachel called out. They were now outside of the building. Santana whipped around.

"What the hell was that Rachel?" Santana asked.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked.

"You know what I'm talking about. You know _exactly _what I'm talking about, Rachel. I walk into our room and find you making out with another girl. What the hell?" Santana asked her. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"We aren't together, Santana. I don't have to get your permission to kiss someone. And I'm allowed to kiss other people." Rachel said.

"Who was that?" Santana asked. Rachel looked down.

"My girlfriend." Rachel admitted.

"You have a girlfriend?" Santana asked quietly. Rachel nodded. "Well, I feel like an idiot. You know what? Forget it. Just go back inside. I'll see you later." Santana said.

"Santana wait. What did you mean when you said it wasn't your day?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Santana said before walking away.

"Santana!" Rachel called. Santana ignored her and ran to Quinn's room. '_Thank God Quinn has a single._' Santana said as she knocked on the door. Quinn opened it.

"San? Are you okay?" she asked. Santana shook her head and Quinn let her in. "What's wrong?" Quinn asked. Santana turned around.

"I broke up with Finn because I think I want to be with Rachel, but then Brittany showed up and Rachel walked in on us kissing and then that of course led to an awkward introduction. Then Brittany and I went to lunch where she said she loves me and I told her once and for all that she has to choose between me and her boyfriend because she can't have us both. She chose him and that just reassured me that I want to try things with Rachel. When I get back to my room, I see Rachel making out with this other girl on her bed... Quinn, she has a girlfriend." Santana said.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry." Quinn said, hugging Santana. The Latina immediately started crying. "Just remember, _you_ live with her. There's plenty of time where you'll be alone with Rachel and her girlfriend won't be. Plenty of time to turn on the Lopez Charm and get your girl." Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"You remember when we read _Brave New World_?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded. "You know that thing they did with the babies? The recording playing while they sleep?" Santana asked.

"Sleep Therapy?" Quinn offered. Santana nodded. "What about it?" Quinn asked.

"Well what if I made a recording of things like '_Date Santana. Be with Santana._' Stuff like that. and played it while she sleeps?" Santana asked.

"Santana, you aren't conditioning Rachel to fall in love with you." Quinn said. Santana shrugged.

"Worth a shot." she said. She sat down in Quinn's desk chair. "What am I going to do? I really want to be with her." Santana said.

"You're Santana Lopez. What does Santana Lopez do best?" Quinn ask. Santana grinned.

"Revenge and steal other people's boyfriends." Santana said.

"Or, you know, in this case someone else's girlfriend." Quinn said. Santana smiled.

"The girl is mine." Santana sang. Quinn laughed.

"Not quite yet, but she will be.

* * *

><p>Back in her and Santana's room, Rachel was trying to figure out what to do. Her girlfriend, Carly, had flown all the way from Lima to visit her on their anniversary.<p>

"Babe, its okay. Your roommate will understand that you need your privacy." Carly said. Rachel looked over at her. She still couldn't believe Carly had bought the story she told her about why Santana had freaked out. Carly leaned over and kissed Rachel, immediately deepening it.

"Santana..." Rachel said. Her eyes immediately opened and Carly pulled away.

"What did you call me?" Carly asked. Rachel bit her lip. "You called me Santana. Isn't that your roommate's name?" Carly asked. Rachel nodded her head. "Are you cheating on me?" Carly asked.

"No. I'm not a cheater." Rachel said. Carly nodded.

"Let's go have a little chat with your roommate." Carly said.

"I don't know where she went." Rachel said. Carly grabbed her wrists hard.

"How about you find her?" Carly asked. Rachel nodded and went in the hall. She saw Mercedes.

"Have you seen Santana?" Rachel asked. Mercedes nodded.

"She went to Quinn's room. She lives in 228 in Franklin." Mercedes said. Rachel nodded.

"Thanks." she said. She and Carly made their way to the next building. "Look, we really don't have to do this. Its not a big deal." Rachel said. Carly whipped around.

"You said another girl's name while kissing me. It is a big deal. Stop being so naive, Rachel!" Carly yelled, slapping Rachel.

"Don't ever hit me again." Rachel said.

"You can always run to Santana." Carly said. Rachel rolled her eyes. When she did, Carly pushed her to the ground, causing Rachel to land on her wrist. Getting up, Rachel sprinted into the building, trying to find Quinn's room. When she found it she immediately knocked.

"Quinn! Santana! Please open the door!" Rachel yelled. The door was immediately opened.

"Rachel! What a nice surprise." Quinn said, giving Santana a knowing smile. When she looked back at Rachel she knew something was wrong. "Are you okay?" she asked. Rachel shook her head.

"She... she's chasing after-" Rachel was cut off by Carly's voice. "Please." Rachel pleaded. Quinn nodded.

"Get inside." she said, pulling Rachel into the room. She closed the door just as Carly approached.

"Are you okay?" Santana whispered. Rachel shook her head and the Latina noticed the smaller brunette holding wrist. "What happened between you two, Rachel?" Santana asked.

"Open the door!" Carly yelled, causing Rachel to jump back. Santana moved in front of her, acting as a barrier between Rachel and the door. She turned to face Rachel.

"What happend?" Santana asked again.

"She kissed me and I called her Santana." Rachel said, looking down. Santana smiled, but quickly frowned.

"And she what? Broke your wrist?" Santana asked. Rachel shrugged.

"She demanded I find you. When I protested, she slapped me and then pushed me to the ground. I landed on my wrist." Rachel said.

"As soon as this is taken care of, we'll go to the nurse's office." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"I'm sorry I brought her here. This was just the first place I thought of to run to." Rachel said.

"Don't worry about it, Rachel." Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"I'm glad you came to me. But I have to go take care of this. Quinn, call security. Rachel, hide... damn, there's no bathroom in here. Hide in the closet." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Santana, I already came out. I refuse to go back into the closet." Rachel said. Santana smiled and Quinn laughed, before realizing the seriousness of the situation they were in.

"Get in unless you want her to break your other wrist." Santana said. Rachel nodded. Santana started to turn, but Rachel grabbed her arm and spun her around, kissing her deeply. Santana hated to pull away, but she knew she had to. She was smiling when she opened her eyes. She quickly kissed Rachel once more before gently pushing her in the closet and closing the door.

"I called security." Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"You hide too." Santana said.

"Oh hell no. I'm so helping." Quinn said. Santana sighed.

"Okay." she said. Quinn opened the door.

"I'd appreciated if you didn't break my door down." Quinn said. Carly pushed past Quinn. "Come in why don't you?" Quinn said sarcastically. Carly zeroed in on Santana.

"You're Santana, right?" Carly asked.

"That depends. Who are you?" Santana asked, knowing exactly who it was.

"Rachel's girlfriend." Carly said.

"In that case... yes, I am." Santana said. Carly smiled evilly. "What are you gonna do? Beat me up?" Carly nodded. "I'd like to see you try. I may be from the Upper East Side of New York, but when one of my friends is getting abused, I tend to get angry." Santana said.

"Are you saying you just want to be friends with Rachel?" Carly asked. In the dark space, Rachel held her breath as she waited for the answer.

"No. I like Rachel. As in, I _really_ like her. But if for some crazy reason she wants to stay with you, I'll happily remain her friend." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Where's Rachel?" Carly asked.

"See, now you're hurting my feelings by ignoring me." Santana said.

"Don't make me have to hurt you." Carly said.

"You mean like you hurt Rachel?" Santana said. Carly tackled her. Quinn almost jumped in when security came in and pulled her off of Santana. Another security officer helped her up.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Santana nodded and watched as Carly was led out of the room. Quinn closed the door.

"Rachel, you can come out now." Santana said. She looked at Quinn, who had a funny expression on her face. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I'm trying to decide if I should laugh at the whole 'Rachel you can come out now.' thing, considering what Rachel said before we made her hide." Quinn said. Santana started laughing and Rachel exited with a smile on her face. She winced when Santana reached out and gently grabbed her wrist. "You should go to the nurse, Rachel." Quinn said. The Latina nodded in agreement.

"I'll take you. I'm going to need some Tylenol for the pain I'm going to feel. That bitch tackled me into Quinn's dresser." Santana said. Rachel looked at Santana's back.

"You're going to need more than Tylenol. You're bleeding. Let's go." Rachel said. After about an hour and a half, they were back in their room. Rachel's wrist was not broken, but badly sprained. Santana had the cut on her back taped up. The taller girl collapsed on her bed. Rachel looked over at her and walked over to the Latina's bed, climbing on so that she was straddling Santana. When Santana raised her eyebrow at the diva's action, Rachel leaned down and kissed her. "I really like you too." Rachel whispered. Santana smiled.

"Do you want to go out on a date with me?" Santana asked. Rachel smiled.

"I'd love to, Santana... but what about Brittany?" Rachel asked.

"Its completely over. I told her to go back to Miami and not come back." Santana said.

"I'm so sorry." Rachel said.

"Don't be. It just opened the door even wider for us." Santana said.

"Is that what you wanted to say to me when I walked in on you two?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"And when I walked in on you and your girlfriend." Santana said.

"Ex-girlfriend." Rachel whispered before kissing Santana again. Santana smiled into the kiss.

"I don't think I've ever been happier to hear that word." Santana whispered against Rachel's lips.

"Me either." Rachel whispered, kissing Santana again.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Rachel woke up on Santana's bed with Santana's arms wrapped around her as Rachel was lying on top of Santana. The two had stayed in their room for the rest of the night. They ate the dinner that Quinn brought over after Santana asked her to bring them dinner, before spending the rest of the night talking, laughing, and kissing. After a few hours, they fell asleep on Santana's bed, Rachel in Santana's arms. Rachel smiled as she layed back down. Santana wrapped her arms tighter aound Rachel's waist. Rachel noticed Santana squirming under her and tried to move her weight off the sleeping girl. The taller girl squeezed her arms around the smaller brunette. "Stay." Santana mumbled. Rachel laughed and tried to worm her way out of the other girl's grip. "No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no." Santana protested. Rachel smiled as she continued her attempt of moving. "Noooo. Raaaaaaach_."_ Santana whined. Rachel eventually freed herself from Santana's grip and laid next to Santana on the bed. "Not cool, Berry." Santana said

"My weight's been on you all night." Rachel argued.

"So? You weigh all of five pounds. I don't care." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "I was fine with where you were." Santana continued.

"I was too, but we do need to get up. We have classes this morning. How do classes work?" Rachel asked.

"Since the grade sizes aren't that large, we're with our classmates all freaking day long. Do you think you can stand sitting with me all day?" Santana asked. Rachel's face immediately dropped. "What's wrong?" Santana asked.

"Mercedes, Kurt, and Noah will be expecting me to sit with them. And I'm sure Sam, Quinn, and... Finn... what are you going to do about Finn?" Rachel asked.

"We broke up. I told him I was gay and he was actually really supportive." Santana said. Rachel smiled softly. "And... he figured out how I felt about you. He saw that from the only interaction you two had. He's the one who told me to go after you... and that's when I saw you in here with her." Santana said. Rachel looked down. Santana lifted her hand up to raise Rachel's chin to meet her eyes. "Hey... as long as you're okay and you're wrist is okay... well obviously its not okay because its sprained... but anyway as long as you're okay, its okay." Santana said softly. Rachel looked at Santana. Santana smiled softly. "Okay?" Santana whispered. Rachel nodded. "Okay... so what were you saying about Sam, Quinn, and Finn?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.

"Aren't you going to want to sit with them?" Rachel asked. Santana smiled.

"I've sat with them everyday since the seventh grade. And anyway, I really want to sit with you." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Maybe we can all sit together?" Rachel said. Santana hesitated.

"I don't know. Noah and Sam have never gotten along. Sam and Noah both liked Quinn when she first came to Westerly in the seventh grade, but she only saw them both as friends at first. Then during freshman year, Noah asked Quinn to homecoming before Sam got a chance. They were together all through freshman year and the first semester of sophomore year, but at the beginnin of the second semester of sophomore year, Quinn broke up with Noah for Sam. Let's just say fights went down." Santana said. Rachel nodded and stood up to get ready. Santana reached out to grab her to bring her back. Rachel smiled.

"We can't miss the first day of classes." Rachel said.

"Sure we can." Santana said. Rachel shook her head.

"Not gonna happen. Get up." Rachel said. Santana sighed.

"Fine." she said. Smiling, she got up and got dressed. After they were dressed, they grabbed their bags, and walked to the dining hall. Leaving their building, they saw Quinn walking up the pathway. "Hey Quinn, what's up?" Santana asked. Quinn smiled at them.

"Hey guys. Are you okay, Rachel?" Quinn asked. Rachel nodded. "How's your wrist?" she asked, noticing the wrap.

"Its sprained, but I'll live." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"My girl's tough." Santana said. Quinn smirked and Rachel smiled. "Uh... let's go get some breakfast." Santana said. The three walked to the dining hall, Santana in the middle of Rachel and Quinn. When they got in the food line, Rachel leaned closer to the taller brunette.

"So... since when am I'm your girl?" Rachel asked. Santana looked down and smiled at her before turning away. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

* * *

><p>Across the large room, Ms. Pillsbury and Mr. Schuester watched the two new rommates carefully. "Well, they look like they're getting along." Mr. Schuester commented. Ms. Pillsbury nodded in agreement.<p>

"When does Glee Club start?" she asked.

"This afternoon at five." he answered. She nodded.

"Guess you'll get to see how its going then." she said. He nodded.

* * *

><p>Back on the other side of the room, the three girls were getting their food. Santana occassionally smirked at Rachel. When they emerged from the line, Rachel spotted Noah, Kurt, and Mercedes sitting at a table. They waved at her and motioned for her to come join them. Smiling, she made her way to start walking in their direction. Santana turned to say something and saw the other girl walking away from her. "Rachel... where are you going?" Santana asked. Rachel looked over and saw a faint sign of hurt in Santana's eyes.<p>

"To sit with my friends." Rachel said. Confusion flashed across Santana's face.

"I figured... _we _could sit together... I mean, after last night, I just thought..." Santana trailed. Rachel smiled at the girl.

"You just thought what?" Rachel asked. Santana shrugged. "Santana, you only asked me on a date. Which I said yes to. But you never asked for anything more." Rachel explained. Santana nodded.

"Oh... okay. That's cool, I guess." Santana said.

"Santana..." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"It's cool. We're only going on a date, we aren't dating." Santana said. She and Rachel walked over to the drink counter. When Santana put her tray down, Rachel put her hand over Santana's.

"The reason we are only going on a date is because _you_ were doing the asking and that's all you asked for, Santana." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"So... if I had asked for more than a date... you would have still said yes?" Santana asked.

"Within reason." Rachel said. Santana smirked.

"Define 'within reason?'" Santana said. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"If you'd asked for sex, I would have been forced to decline." Rachel said. Santana smiled. "But... if you had asked for a _realationship_, I may have accepted." Rachel said. Santana's smile grew wider.

"Want to be in a relationship?" Santana asked. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"_That's_ the best you can do?" Rachel asked. Santana smirked.

"Take me how I am." Santana said. Rachel smirked.

"Think of a better way to ask me, and I'll consider your offer." Rachel said, grinned. She got her juice and walked past Santana to sit with Noah, Kurt, and Mercedes. Santana grinned as she sat down with Sam, Finn, and Quinn.

"What was that about?" Sam asked.

"Don't worry about it." Finn and Quinn said at the same time. Sam looked at them and Santana smiled.

"Its okay guys." Santana said. She lowered her voice to speak. "Rachel Berry just dared me to ask her to be my girlfriend." Santana whispered. Sam's eyes widened. "And if you say anything to anyone else, I'll hurt you." Santana continued.

"What about you two?" Sam asked, gesturing between Santana and Finn. They looked at each other.

"We're friends." Finn said. Santana smiled.

"So... you're..." Sam trailed off.

"I'm gay, Evans. Do you have a problem with that?" Santana asked. Sam shook his head.

"No. I think you're brave for admitting that." Sam said. Santana smiled.

"So, we need to find an amazing way for you to ask her to be your girlfriend." Finn said. Santana grinned and made eye contact with Rachel across the room. Smirking, she turned back to her table. Santana and Rachel didn't walk to class together, but rather ran into each other with their respective groups at the door of the building. Smiling, Santana opened the door for Rachel. "Do you guys want to sit with us?" Santana asked Rachel and her friends. Mercedes, Kurt, and Rachel nodded. Finn smiled. Quinn, Sam, and Noah were all hesitant. Santana turned to the other three. "You guys don't have to sit together." Santana sighed.

"Fine." Quinn said. Walking past Santana she spoke. "If a fight breaks out, its your fault." Quinn said. Santana nodded and the group entered the classroom. The found a row and filed in the order of: Kurt, Mercedes, Noah, Rachel, Santana, Quinn, Sam, and Finn. "Everyone is giving you and Finn weird looks." Quinn whispered. Santana shrugged.

"I have no problem letting people know we broke up. I'm not hiding that from anyone." Santana said. Quinn nodded and Santana turned to face Rachel. "So... when you said a better way to ask you, what did you have in mind?" Santana whispered. Rachel smiled and turned to face the other girl.

"Santana, you're obviously a smart girl... I'm sure you'll come up with something." Rachel said. At that moment, the teacher walked in and the first class of the school year began. Santana smirked and faced forward. Santana occasionally let her hand stray over to Rachel's part of the table. It was weird to think that just a few months ago it was Brittany she was flirting with in class. Now all she could think about was getting Rachel Barbara Berry to be her girlfriend. The smaller girl obviously wanted to, but she wasn't going to make it easy for Santana. The Latina knew her girl... well _soon to be_ girl wasn't desparate. She needed to find a special way to ask Rachel to be her girl. She knew Rachel was into flashy stuff, but she didn't think the little diva would appreciate something public, as she was still relatively unknown around Westerly, even if she was the girl who had filled the spot left open by Brittany Pierce. She needed something subtle, but romantic. Rather than pay attention in class, she spent the period thinking. She didn't notice the teacher standing in front of her until Rachel kicked her foot and Quinn nudged her shoulder. "Uh... hey Mr. Grant. How was your summer?" Santana asked. The teacher smiled.

"It was fine, Santana. Can you answer the question, please?" he asked. Santana smiled sheepishly.

"Uh... my summer was good too. Thanks for asking." Santana said.

"Oh how I've missed your humorous comments. The question was what do you wish to learn about this semester in European History?" the teacher asked.

"World War II, I guess." Santana said.

"Thank you. Please pay attention." the teacher requested. Santana nodded, when suddenly it came to her.

"I got it." she whispered. Quinn looked at her.

"Got what?" she asked. Santana leaned closer to her friend.

"The perfect way to ask Rachel to be mine. Tell you later." Santana said.


	7. Chapter 7

The juniors were let out for a fifteen minute break before their next class began. Santana pulled Quinn aside. "So here's the deal, Fabray. Tonight after that Glee Club meeting and dinner, I want you to ask Rachel if she wants to go get ice cream with you, Sam, and Finn." Santana said.

"Uh... okay... but one quick question. Since when are Finn, Sam, and I going to get ice cream?" Quinn asked.

"Since now. Anyway, while you guys are gone, I'm going to make our room all romantic and stuff. Then I'm going to head to the ice cream place and text you when I get there. When I text you, get up, say its time to leave and walk out. When I see Rachel, I'll make up some story, offer to walk her back to our dorm and then when we get back, I'll ask her to be my girlfriend." Santana said. Quinn nodded.

"Its subtle, yet still flashy and romantic enough to catch attention. I like it." Quinn said. Santana smiled. "And I'm sure she will too." Quinn continued.

"I hope so. I'm really nervous." Santana said.

"Why? You already know she's going to say yes." Quinn said.

"I know... but its different with her than it was with Brittany." Santana said.

"That's because Brittany wasn't willing to only be with you. Rachel is." Quinn said. Santana nodded and the two walked over to Rachel. "Hey Rachel. Finn, Sam, and I are going to get ice cream tonight. Do you want to come with?" Quinn asked.

"Sure, I'd love to... are you not going, Santana?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.

"I have plans with some other friends that I haven't seen all week because I was spending time with my new roommate." Santana said, smiling. '_Also known as my future girlfriend._' Santana thought. Rachel nodded and smiled, though clearly disappointed that the Latina was going.

"That's cool. Sure, I'll go Quinn." Rachel said. Quinn nodded and went to talk to Finn and Sam.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"We're taking Rachel with us to go get ice cream while Santana sets up her romantic gesture so that she can ask Rachel to be her girlfriend." Quinn said. Finn nodded.

"Cool. When?" he asked.

"Tonight after dinner." Quinn said. They nodded. Finn looked back over at Rachel and Santana. The only time he'd ever seen Santana that happy was when Brittany was at Westerly. The warning bell rang and everyone made their way back into the building. After all their classes were over, they headed over to the music building. Quinn had convinced Sam and Finn to join. Santana walked very closely to Rachel, which Noah, Kurt, and Mercedes didn't fail to notice.

"So, I still don't get the difference between show choir and regular choir." Santana said. Rachel sighed.

"For the twentieth time Santana, regular choir is when the singers stand still. Show choir involves choreography." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"I feel like I'm frustrating you by asking a question that I already understand." Santana said. Rachel looked up.

"Wait... you understand the difference?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"I got it the first time you told me." Santana said, laughing.

"You're such a brat." Rachel said. Santana smiled and entered the building. Noah, Kurt, and Mercedes caught up to her.

"What the hell was that all about?" Mercedes asked.

"What?" Rachel asked, confused.

"You and Santana. You've been flirting with each other all day." Kurt said. Rachel shrugged.

"Santana and I are friends." Rachel said, walking into the choir room. Mr. Schuester was in there along with four other people that Rachel didn't know. Two boys (Santana introduced them as Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang) were making up hip-hop dance routines, there was an Asian girl (Kurt introduced her as Tina Cohen-Chang), and a boy in a wheelchair (Mercedes introduced him as Artie Abrams). Mr. Schue motioned for everyone to sit down.

"Welcome to the Glee Club!" Mr. Schue said. Everyone clapped, Rachel especially. "This is just an introductory meeting, so its shorter, but tomorrow we start full force. Our first goal is Sectionals, which is in about two months. I'd just like to say that I think we can really be successful. Now, your first assignment is to choose a song that expresses your feelings about the new school year." Mr. Schue said. After about fifteen minutes, they were free to go. Santana hadn't been expecting the meeting to be that short, so she was able to go to dinner with the group. After dinner, Rachel, Quinn, Sam, and Finn headed to the ice cream shop. Quinn had strategically chosen the one that she knew took Finn and Sam forever to choose at, because it had so many flavors. Waving goodbye, Santana practically sprinted to the outlet mall type area that was on campus. There were a bunch of different stores where students could pick up necessities or quick gifts. Santana carefully picked out a few different items and bought a box of chocolates and a single red rose at the store. She also bought a brand new package of markers and a poster board for the sign she wanted to make and went to her room to set everything up. About forty-five minutes later she had everything set up the way she wanted and quickly changed clothes. She put on a jean skirt, a blue top, restraightened her hair, redid her makeup, put her jewelry on, and grabbed the pair of flip-flops that matched her shirt. After she was ready, she quickly made her way to the ice cream shop that Quinn, Rachel, Sam, and Finn were at. She stood on the side of the building and texted Quinn. Santana looked around, noticing for the first time that the sun had set. She didn't mind though, because that worked to her advantage. When the group walked out, Santana gently grabbed Rachel, covered her mouth, and pulled her behind the building. She pushed Rachel up against the wall and used the hand that wasn't covering Rachel's mouth to text Quinn and let her know that she had Rachel with her. Only after Quinn responded did Santana uncover Rachel's mouth and allow the girl to begin berating her.

"Santana Lopez! What on Earth is your problem?" Rachel exclaimed. Santana smiled.

"I was heading back to our room and saw you guys leaving. I thought I'd use this as my opportunity to ask you to be my girlfriend." Santana said.

"And you thought kidnapping me was the way to get me to say yes?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded. Rachel sighed. "Its having the exact opposite effect. In fact, its making me want to cancel our date." Rachel said. Santana frowned.

"Rachel, wait. Don't do that. Please don't do that. I'm sorry. Really, I am. Can I walk you back to the room to make it up to you?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and the two began to walk to their dorm room. "So... how was ice cream with Finn, Quinn, and Sam?" Santana asked.

"It was nice." Rachel said. Santana could tell that the smaller girl was still upset with her.

"What'd you get?" Santana asked.

"Chocolate..." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"That's cool. I like chocolate." Santana said. They walked in silence for the rest of the journey. Santana was internally grinning. When they reached the door, Santana paused before unlocking it. "So... I have a confession to make." Santana said.

"Okay..." Rachel said.

"When I was getting ready, I was kind of in a hurry, so I left a mess. When I was looking for an outfit to wear I just kind of threw my clothes out of my closet and I think a lot of my stuff landed on your bed. So... the room looks like its been robbed." Santana said. Rachel looked up.

"Santana!" Rachel said.

"Calm down. I'll clean it up." Santana said, rolling her eyes and unlocking the door. She allowed Rachel to walk in before her. "Be careful where you step. Who knows what's lying around the room." Santana said as she stepped into the room and turned on the light. Rachel looked over at her bed and gasped. On Rachel's bed was a giant stuffed frog holding a heart that said **_'Be Mine'_** on it, a gold star that said **_'Shining Star'_** on it, a rather large box of chocolates, a single red rose, and propped up against Rachel's pillows was a sign that Santana had made that read **_'Rachel Barbara Berry, will you please be my girlfriend? xoxo - San'_** Rachel turned around and saw Santana leaning up against the closed door, arms crossed, with a smile on her face.

"You... you tricked..." Rachel trailed off.

"Did you _really_ think I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend by kidnapping you? I'm not a crazed psycopath." Santana said, smirking at the smaller girl. Rachel looked back at the bed. Santana bit her lip in anticipation. She pushed herself off the door and started to walk to the couch to sit down. As she passed Rachel, she felt herself being pulled into a kiss.

"Yes." Rachel whispered against Santana's lips. Santana smiled.

"Really?" she asked. Rachel laughed.

"You already knew the answer." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"Doesn't prepare you for when you actually hear it." Santana said, hugging Rachel close to her. "Do you like it?" Santana asked.

"Yes." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"I'm going to protect you, I'm promise." Santana whispered. Rachel smiled.

"You don't have to. Maybe if we were in Lima, you would, but here no one knows Lima Rachel. And I plan to keep it that way, because Lima Rachel isn't very popular and probably wouldn't have gotten you." Rachel said. Santana shook her head in disagreement.

"Any Rachel Berry would have gotten me." Santana said. Rachel smiled and leaned into the hug. "You're beautiful, Rach... you're perfect." Santana said, resting her chin on Rachel's head. "You're so amazing." Santana continued.

"So are you, Santana." Rachel said. The two stayed like that for awhile before Rachel spoke up again. "So was the ice cream thing all a part of your plan?" Rachel asked. Santana pulled away and nodded with a smile.

"I'm just that sneaky. And Quinn knew that Finn and Sam would take forever in there." Santana said. Rachel laughed.

"They did. Quinn insisted that she and I go first so we'd actually be able to get ice cream before the shop closed. We were almost halfway finished before either of them had chosen a flavor." Rachel said.

"Sounds about right. Whenever Quinn, Sam, Finn, and I would double date Quinn and I wouldn't let them pay for us because we didn't want to wait on them. I may or may not have made Finn reimburse me later, but that's beside the point." Santana said. Rachel laughed. "I'm kidding. I never made him pay me back... well there was one time, but that was when they took me out for my birthday." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"I'll excuse that one. When is your birthday anyway?" Rachel asked.

"Its in March. Yours?" Santana asked.

"Decemember." Rachel said. Santana smiled and kissed Rachel... her girlfriend again.


	8. Chapter 8

Santana and Quinn walked out to the soccer field, ready to begin another season. Santana and Brittany had joined the team back in sixth grade and had convinced Quinn to join in seventh grade. By their freshman year, the three were on the varsity team. As sophomores, they had been a part of the starting line up. Now, as juniors, Santana and Quinn were co-captains. Neither girl had brought up the fact that there was supposed to have been a third captain that year, and they were hoping that their coach didn't either. They began getting loose, kicking the ball between them, while they waited for the coach and the rest of the team to arrive. Santana was a forward midfielder and Quinn was a defensive midfielder. Brittany had been a forward and together they were a machine. They were totally in sync with one another. They automatically knew where each other would be when passing the ball. Santana was trying not to think about having get used to playing with another forward. "Lopez!" Santana turned when she heard her name being called and saw the coach jogging toward them.

"What's up, Coach?" the Latina asked. The rest of the team filed onto the field.

"I found you guys a new forward. I saw her play and she's really good. She's with the assistant coach right now getting a practice uniform. I want you to go up against her one on one." the coach said. Santana nodded her agreement and _(along with Quinn)_ proceeded to lead the rest of the team in the warm up while they waited for their new teammate to arrive. Just as they had finished their usual two lap warm up run, the coach called them over to her. "Okay guys. As you know, we lost Pierce. But I've found her replacement. Let's welcome our new forward, Rachel Berry." the coach said. Santana looked up from her water bottle in shock. She barely processed the coach motioning her to take her spot for one on one and only moved once Quinn pushed her in the direction. She stood next to Rachel while they waited for the mini field to be set up.

"Why didn't you tell me that you play soccer?" Santana asked as their teammates set up the cones.

"I don't believe you ever asked." Rachel replied, smiling.

"I distinctly remember us talking about the fact that I play." Santana pointed out. Rachel shrugged. Santana grabbed the ball she was being offered and set it on the ground.

"Want me to go easy on you?" Santana asked, looking at Rachel.

"I think I'll be fine." Rachel replied, waiting for the whistle to blow. When it did, Rachel easily won possession and went to tap the ball in the mock goal. She turned around a shot Santana a sweet smile. Rachel beat Santana 5-4.

"Got anything to say Lopez?" the coach asked. Santana jokingly bowed to her girlfriend.

"The girl has game." Santana admitted, earning a wide smile from Rachel. "Welcome to the team, Berry." Santana said. The team went through several agility, running, and ball control drills before spending the last thirty minutes of practice scrimmaging. Santana had to admit that Rachel was good. She was the only one who hadn't missed a single shot when they worked on their shooting. Quinn and Santana had each missed one. The team had no problem adjusting to having Rachel around. When they split into their usual groups for scrimmaging, Rachel was told to go on the team that Santana wasn't on. As it was the first day of practice, the coach was a bit more lenient so when Santana caught Rachel's gaze, she blew her a kiss while leaning down to tie her cleats. Rachel blushed and Santana smirked. Still wanting to mess with her girl, she continued attempting to distract her. As she stood up., Santana flirtatiously waved at Rachel, sending a flirty smile her way. The whistle blew, breaking the spell, and Santana quickly got in the game. She ran up and guarded Rachel, who had the ball.

"You know, you're really sexy when you're working out." Rachel said. Santana stood straight up, forgetting where she was, and Rachel easily went around her. Santana turned around and sprinted after the girl. When she caught up to Rachel, she grabbed the diva by the waist and pulled her way from the ball. "Q, get the ball!" Santana said, laughing as Rachel tried to get out of her grip until a whistle blew. Still holding Rachel in the air, Santana looked over to see her coaches laughing.

"Lopez, set Berry down." her coach said, smiling. Santana grinned and gently put Rachel back on the ground.

"Were you trying to keep the ball?" Santana asked. Rachel rolled her eyes and nodded. "Oh my god. I am so sorry. I hope that I didn't mess you up, Rach." Santana said. Rachel smiled and laughed along with the rest of the team. The coach blew the whistle to allow them to start playing again. Still grinning, Santana gently rested her forehead on Rachel's, quickly kissing the smaller girl before running to help her team out. After practice was over, Rachel collapsed onto one of the benches that was near the field. She instantly smiled when she felt a pair of hands gently massaging her shoulders. She rolled her head back and smiled up at her girlfriend.

"Hi." she said. Santana smiled down at Rachel and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Hi. How's your wrist?" Santana asked, gesturing to the still wrapped wrist. Rachel looked down, before looking up and smiling.

"Better every day." she said Santana nodded.

"I bet its because of who's taking care of you." Santana replied with a smirk.

"Yea. That's it." Rachel said, smirking as grabbed her water bottle and drank from it before offering it to Santana, who declined. Rachel started to speak, but Quinn walked up.

"So S, what'd you think of that new girl?" Quinn asked, smiling at Rachel.

"She was pretty hot. I may have to ask her for something on the side, if you catch my drift." Santana said. Rachel rolled her eyes and chuckled as Quinn fake-gasped.

"But what about Rachel?" Quinn asked. Santana shrugged.

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her." Santana said, winking at Rachel.

"Go ahead. Have your fun. I was going to tell you." Rachel said. Santana laughed as she continued massaging the girl.

"You're lucky that you showed up when you did." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "I had recently made it a rule that the new girl gets the opportunity to be carried to the locker room by the hot Latina co-captain." Santana explained. Rachel smiled as Santana removed her hands from Rachel's shoulders and walked to the other side of the bench, lowering herself so that Rachel could get on her back. While the group made it's way to the locker room, Rachel nuzzled her face into the Latina's shoulder. They'd been together a week and Rachel had never been happier. "You know, you're pretty good." Santana said. Rachel smiled, gently pulled the girl's head back by her ponytail and kissed the walking girl.

"Thanks. So are you." Rachel replied. Santana was about to respond when Quinn tapped her arm before pointing out a group headed towards them.

"Who are they?" Rachel asked. Santana sighed.

"Their stars of our rival team. They never know when to shut up." Santana said.

"Except for that one time." Quinn interjected. "What happened?" Rachel asked, resting her chin on Santa's shoulder.

"One time, Brittany had decided that she had enough of them, so when we were filling up the water jugs before a home game against them, she put pickle juice in the jug instead of the lime Gatorade we were supposed to put in there." Santana said. Rachel laughed. "Yea… when Coach asked her about it, she said that she was worried they would cramp up and wanted to be prepared. They didn't really mess with her again." she explained, plastering on a fake smile as they arrived. "Hey Callie…" Santana said, not letting go of Rachel. If she ever needed the diva, it was then. "Lopez. Fabray. Who's the new one?" Callie asked. Santana looked up at Rachel. "Don't worry about it," Santana said, slightly tightening her grip on the diva's legs. Callie shrugged. "Oh hey do you remember my older brother?" Santana asked. Callie nodded slowly. "He said a couple of his friends were looking for cheap entertainment and I immediately thought of you guys." Santana said. Quinn snorted, but Santana continued. "They need to know though… do you guys charge by the hour or by satisfaction?" Santana asked, faking curiosity. Rachel rolled her eyes and hid her smirk in her girlfriend's shoulder. Quinn, however, wasn't able to disguise her laughter.

"Santana! That's so rude!" Quinn fake chastised. Santana shrugged as if to say, _And your point?_ "Besides, it's a stupid question." Quinn continued. Rachel lifted her head from Santana's shoulder and decided to join in.

"Whatever do you mean, Quinn?" Rachel asked, resting her head on Santana's. Santana smirked before squeezing the girl's leg in appreciation. Quinn smiled sweetly up at Rachel.

"Well, Rachel, they have to charge by the hour. If they charged by satisfaction, they'd never get paid." Quinn explained. Rachel didn't even try to hold back her laughter and she soon heard her girlfriend joining in. "And obviously that isn't the case, because you can't buy clothes like that cheap. I'm pretty sure its like a rule that the less fabric used on an article of clothing, the more expensive it is. Those outfits must have cost a fortune." Quinn continued. Santana almost dropped Rachel because she was laughing so hard.

"What are you three doing here anyway?" Santana managed to get out.

"We just came to make sure you guys are ready to get your asses kicked." she said. Santana growled and gently set Rachel down.

"Shut up, Callie." Quinn said as Rachel tried to calm her angry girlfriend down. Callie rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Without Pierce you guys don't stand a chance." Callie said. Quinn rolled her eyes. "I know its going to be extremely hard for you, Lopez. I mean, everyone knew about you and Pierce." Callie continued. Santana growled, pulled from Rachel's soft grip and got in Callie's face. "What are you gonna do, Lopez?" Callie dared. Santana turned around and saw Rachel's face, knowing that the pain on the diva's face was caused by the mention of Santana and Brittany together. Slowly, Santana turned back around to face the visitor.

"Shut up. That _new girl_? She's my girlfriend. And if you ever cause the smile to leave her face again, I will destroy you." Santana said. Callie smirked.

"Are you _threatening_ me?" she asked.

"No. No, I am _promising_ you." Santana growled. Callie scoffed.

"See you on the field, Lopez. Hope you can protect your girlfriend as well as you think you can." Callie said before walking away. Rachel walked over and put a hand on the taller girl's arm.

"Hey." she whispered. Santana turned around and Rachel brushed some hair out the Latina's eyes. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"I can't wait until we play them in a week." she said. Rachel nodded and looked down.

"Babe, I am so sorry about that." Santana apologized. Rachel looked up from the ground.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Rachel said. "She brought up Brittany." Santana said. Rachel smiled and took Santana's face in her hands

"But you didn't. I'm okay. Thank you for defending me." Rachel said. Santana nodded.

"I'll always defend you, Rach." Santana promised, before allowing Rachel to return to her spot on the Latina's back and the three continued to the locker room.

"We'll get them back next week, S." Quinn said. Santana nodded. "What do you think she meant by _hope you can protect your girlfriend_?" Quinn asked. Santana felt Rachel tense and glared at Quinn.

"Q! Really?" Santana yelled. Quinn looked up and saw the look on Rachel's face.

"Sorry, Rach." Quinn said.

"Its okay." Rachel whispered. Santana looked up at Rachel.

"You'll be fine. I'll protect you." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"I know you will." Rachel said.


	9. Chapter 9

A week later, Santana and Rachel were in there room, getting their stuff ready before meeting Quinn to walk to the locker room to prepare for the game. Every time someone brought it up, Santana noticed that Rachel would tense up momentarily. "Rach? Babe, are you sure that you want to play today? You seem nervous anytime someone talks about the game." Santana said. Rachel turned from her bag.

"Santana, I am fine. I promise... so what position does Callie play?" she asked, trying to sound casual. Santana bit her lip.

"Forward." she admitted. Rachel nodded.

"You'll be fine, babe." Santana said. Rachel nodded again. "And I'll be there so you know I have your back." Santana continued, walking over to hug Rachel.

"Yea... I know. We should get going before we're late." Rachel said. The pair walked out of their room and saw Quinn waiting for them.

"You guys ready?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded confidently.

"We weren't state champions last year for no reason." Santana said. The three walked to the locker room, where their coaches and teammates were waiting for them.

"Lopez, Berry, Fabray. Your uniforms are in your lockers." the coach said. The three girls nodded and walked over to their lockers. Rachel paused when she saw the jersey. She lightly ran her fingers over the _'Berry'_ on the back. Santana looked over and smiled.

"You know, it's appropriate that your jersey number is 1." Santana said. Rachel gave her a strange look.

"Why's that?" Rachel asked. Santana leaned closer to her an lowered her voice.

"Because you're number one in my heart." she said, causing Rachel to giggle.

"You know, you act all tough, but you're really just a big softy." Rachel said. Santana winked.

"Don't tell anybody." she said. She turned around when one of the younger girls called her name.

"What should I do with this?" she asked holding up a jersey that had _'Pierce'_ on the back with _'15'_ directly below it. Rachel looked over at Santana.

"Give it to Coach." Santana instructed.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked softly. Santana nodded.

"I know this going to be weird for you and Quinn. I won't take it personally if you don't pass to me that much." Rachel said. Santana gave her a soft smile.

"If you're open, I'm giving the ball to you. No matter what." Santana said. Quinn looked over and nodded. "We kind of immediately clicked, you know?" Santana said, telling Rachel with her eyes that the double meaning was intentional. Quinn looked over again and inspected Rachel's jersey.

"Hey doesn't that _'C'_ mean captain?" Quinn asked. Rachel looked at it in confusion.

"I'm not a captain." Rachel said. Santana and Quinn smiled at each other.

"You are now. Lopez and Fabray proposed it and the rest of the girls unanimously agreed. Congratulations." the coach said. Rachel looked over.

"You guys did this?" Rachel asked. They nodded.

"You deserve it, babe." Santana said, kissing her girlfriend's cheek before she began changing. After everyone was changed and ready they went on the field and began warming up. Santana followed Rachel's gaze and saw that it landed on Callie. "Don't let her get to you. You're better than she is, both as a soccer player and as a person. She's got nothing on you. Trust me." Santana said, smiling to reassure her girlfriend before gently pushing her to tell the girl that it was time to warm up.

"Lopez, Berry, Fabray! They're ready for the captains!" their coach yelled. The three made their way to the center of the field. When the refs told them to shake hands, Callie gave Rachel an evil smirk. Santana put a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder, wishing she could do more. After winning the coin toss, they went over to the bench to shed their warm up hoodies.

"You're going to be great, Rach." Santana whispered in her ear as the coach began talking. They walked onto the field to begin the game. Just before the whistle blew, Rachel looked over at Santana, who simply winked as the whistle blew. Rachel took the kick off and immediately sent it to Santana. Quickly controlling the ball, Santana passed it back to Rachel and quickly realized her mistake. "Rach, you've got Callie on you!" Santana yelled. Rachel didn't waste any time before kicking the ball behind her to another teammate. Ten seconds after she had released the ball, she felt a pair of cleats colliding with her ankle guards and she went in the air, landing on her still sprained wrist as she came in contact with the ground. Santana, who now had the ball, looked over when she heard yelling and what sounded like a cry of pain. She passed the ball to Quinn and sprinted over to the commotion.

"What is wrong with you?" their teammate Tiffany was yelling at Callie.

"I was just going for the ball!" Callie said. Santana tried to jump Callie, but Quinn, who had sprinted over when Santana did, grabbed her arm.

"You can't get a red card! We don't need to play with ten people." Quinn said. Santana nodded and turned on her heals when she heard Rachel crying.

"What happened?" Santana asked the nearest person.

"Callie slide tackled her and she landed on her wrist." one of the opposing players said.

"Is it your hurt one?" Santana asked softly. Rachel nodded and their coach and trainer ran over.

"Rachel, you need to sit out at least the first half. You may be able to return for the second one." the trainer said. Rachel started to protest, but Santana covered her mouth.

"Rachel go." Santana said, softly kissing her forehead before helping the trainer stand up.

"I don't want to let you down, S." Rachel whispered. Santana chuckled.

"You're not letting me down." Santana said. She turned around in time to see Callie get a yellow card. "Seriously? That's all she gets?" Santana yelled. Rachel kicked her foot.

"You don't need to get one. Shut up." Rachel said. Santana nodded and soon, the game was resuming. By the end of the first half, Westerly was down 2-1.

"Berry, you up to going back in?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and handed Santana a water bottle. The Latina nodded her thanks and sat down next to her girlfriend. "I'm serious Rachel. Don't go in if it still hurts." Santana said, concern flooding her eyes. Rachel smiled and gently cupped the taller girl's cheek.

"I'm fine. I'm going back in. But you're sweet for worrying." she said. When they were back on the field, Santana stayed by Rachel as long as possible.

"I thought you went crying off." Callie said. Santana started toward the girl, but Rachel stepped on front of her.

"San, go. Now." Rachel said. The Latina went, but kept an eye on Callie the entire time. Next thing she knew, the scored was tied with 20 seconds left. Rachel had the ball, but not a clear shot. Santana sprinted up.

"Rach back!" she yelled. Rachel passed to her girlfriend the ball and sprinted to the other side. Santana faked that she was going to shoot it, but actually passed to Rachel, who easily shot it in. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game and Santana found herself being hugged by three of her teammates. She looked over and saw Rachel jogging over to the sidelines and removed herself from the hug. After sprinting to Rachel, the Latina tackled the diva to the ground, laughing as she squealed. Santana softly kissed Rachel.

"I told you that you'd be amazing." Santana whispered. Suddenly Quinn dove on tip of Santana.

"You two are so cute is disgusting!" Quinn yelled, earning a laugh from the two brunettes. When they were shaking hands with the other team, Rachel leaned closer to Santana as Callie approached.

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything." Callie said. Santana glared.

"I don't really care. Keep walking." she said. Callie rolled her eyes and Santana hugged Rachel. "I told you. I have your back babe." she said.


	10. Chapter 10

Santana smiled as she looked for Rachel, who had somehow managed to get out of her grip. She saw her sitting the bench in the locker room, taking off her cleats, socks, and shin guards with her back facing Santana. The taller girl walked behind the diva, sat on the bench, and pulled her girlfriend into her arms. "Rachie?" she said in a singsong voice, smiling as the smaller girl leaned into her touch.

"What?" Rachel asked, looking up at Santana.

"Do you want to be the bestest girlfriend in the whole wide world?" Santana asked, tickling the diva's side. She laughed as the smaller girl squirmed.

"Santana! Stop! I'm ticklish." Rachel giggled. Santana stopped tickling and kissed the side of her head.

"You never answered my question." she said. Rachel smiled up at her girlfriend. "What would make me the… Santana Lopez, we are _not_ having sex!" Rachel loudly whispered. Quinn looked over and laughed.

"Shut the fuck up, Fabray!" Santana yelled. Quinn immediately turned around.

"Sorry." she said over her shoulder. Santana rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her girlfriend.

"We aren't doing that." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"That is not what I meant, but… don't rule that out just yet, my dear. I have been known to be very persuasive." Santana said. Rachel snorted. "What? I got you, didn't I?" Santana asked. Rachel smiled up at Santana.

"Yea…" she breathed. Santana smiled. "For now, anyway. Keep up the so-called 'persuasion' act and we may have a little issue." Rachel said. Santana rolled her eyes playfully.

"If you say so." she mumbled, causing Rachel to glare. Her look lasted three seconds before it turned into a smile. "Now… what would make me the _bestest girlfriend in the whole wide world_?" she asked, copying Santana's earlier tone. Santana laughed.

"I'm glad you asked. See… I'm so tired and I worked really hard out there… I feel as if I have at least earned something. And since someone-" she said with a pointed glare at Rachel. "- refuses to have sex, I guess I can settle for a piggyback ride from my girlfriend." Santana continued. Rachel shook her head. "But why not?" Santana whined. Rachel looked at her incredulously.

"San, you are at least three inches taller than I am and you are stronger than me. I can't carry you all the way back to our dorm." Rachel said. Santana shrugged.

"That is not the Rachel Berry I know." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "See, the Rachel Berry that I know would never give up because she thinks she can't do something. She would be more determined than ever." Santana said. Rachel rolled her eyes with a smile and leaned up to kiss Santana.

"You're sweet. But my answer is still no. Maybe Quinn will." Rachel said. Quinn immediately shook her head.

"Hell no. That is not going fucking to happen." Quinn interjected. Santana smiled.

"You aren't even my type, Quinn. You're too blonde for my taste." Santana replied. Quinn looked over with a raised eyebrow.

"What about Brittany?" Quinn asked, her eyes immediately widening as Rachel's face fell.

"Q! What the hell is wrong with you?" Santana yelled, trying to hold Rachel closer to her, but the diva stood up. She frowned as Rachel backed away from her.

"Oh crap. Rachel, I am so sorry. I didn't mean that." Quinn said, trying to catch the girl's attention as she put her stuff in her bag. Rachel shrugged and slipped her flip flops on.

"Its fine, Quinn. I know you didn't." Rachel said. Santana stood up and tried to grab her hand. The diva quickly pulled her hand back.

"Rachel." she said, her tone full of hurt. Rachel stepped closer to her.

"I'm okay. I'm just going to have to accept that everywhere I go on this campus, people are going to be comparing our relationship to the one you had with her." Rachel said.

"Everyone except for me. There is not even a damn comparison. This one is so much more healthy and exciting. What I have with you is what I have always wanted." Santana said.

"But when you imagined it, did you imagine it with Brittany?" Rachel asked quietly. Santana looked down. "Its okay." Rachel continued. Santana shook her head.

"Damn it. No it isn't. I've moved on and she is still hurting my heart because my history with her is hurting you." Santana said. Rachel shrugged.

"There is always going to be a part of your heart that doesn't belong to me, because it will always belong to her. The sooner I accept that, the easier it will be." Rachel said. Santana looked as if she would burst into tears in any second.

"Rachel… that is not how it is. I promise." Santana said. Rachel looked down. "Rach, I care about you." Santana whispered. Rachel nodded.

"But you loved her. You can't just get over love so quickly. Maybe we rushed into this. We'd known each other for a week when we started dating. You were still trying to get over what happened at the beginning of summer. I was in an awful relationship. Maybe we should have waited a little bit, instead of just jumping into a relationship with the first girl we talked to." Rachel said. Santana's face fell.

"What are you trying to say?" she asked. Rachel looked everywhere but at Santana.

"I don't know. I really like you, Santana, but I can't deal with coming second in your heart. You can deny it all you want and I think that you really believe that you're over her, but I can see how you look whenever someone brings her up. The look on your face when you saw her old jersey broke my heart because it was full of pain. Baby, you need help right now, and I'm not so sure that I'm the one who can give it to you." Rachel said. Santana started crying and barely registered Quinn ushering the team out of the locker room to give them privacy.

"You are the only help I need." Santana whispered. Rachel began crying as well.

"I want to help you, but it is not fair of me to ask you to let me into that part of your heart. I really don't want to know all the details of your relationship with her, because you two have something that we will never have. She has a part of you that will never belong to me." Rachel said.

Santana met Rachel's eyes. "What's that? My first kiss? My first experience with a girl? My virginity?" Santana asked. Rachel shook her head looked down. "Rach, you have to tell me. It can't be those things, because it is not like I would be your first kiss or your first time with a girl." Santana said. Rachel closed her eyes. "You're a virgin, aren't you?" Santana whispered. Rachel nodded. "You and Carly-" Santana was cut off by Rachel.

"No. We didn't. It wasn't right. And more importantly, I didn't love her. Which is exactly what I'm talking about. Brittany will always be your first love. That will never be me. It can never be me." Rachel said. Santana grabbed her hand.

"I'm going to say something, but you need to keep quiet through the entire thing, okay? I don't want you to interrupt me. Just hear me out." Santana whispered. Rachel nodded and Santana took that as her cue to continue. "Listen, Brittany was my first for a lot of things. She was the first person I met here, other than Ms. Pillsbury and the Dean, my first roommate, my first friend here, my first real best friend… she was the first person outside of my family that I felt I could count on, the first person I could talk to about the divorce… she was the first girl I ever had feelings for that I acknowledged, she was my first kiss, and yes she was my first love. I lost my virginity to her and I don't regret it, because at the time I did love her-" Santana had to pause as Rachel began to tear up. "-and I'm pretty sure that that part only matters when it actually takes place. Just because you lose your virginity to someone doesn't mean that you are automatically going to be with them for the rest of your lives. Sure, at the time I hoped that Britt and I would graduate and go off to college together and be together forever. Yea, I was heartbroken when she first told me that she was in love with her boyfriend. Yes, it did hurt that she wouldn't let me come visit her all summer and I'll even be upfront with you and say that it almost killed me when I gave her the ultimatum of me or him and she chose him." Santana said, looking down.

"San, I-" Rachel was cut off.

"I'm not done yet. There are a few things that she will never have, because they belong to you. You are my first girlfriend. Brittany and I were never official. You are the first person who has been completely mine, and no Finn doesn't count." Santana said, earning a small smile from Rachel. "You are the first person who hasn't just used me to make out and hook up with during the school year while their boyfriend was back at home. You are the first person who has given me hope since this whole thing went down last year. And more importantly, you are the only person that I have ever made myself be so cheesy for just to make them smile. You think I go around setting up displays and asking every girl I see to be my girlfriend? I did that for you, Rachel. Only you." Santana said. Rachel looked down.

"Thank you." she whispered. Santana nodded.

"Now, I don't know what happened between then and now - other than Quinn's big mouth, that is - but can we please go back to how we were ten minutes ago?" Santana asked. Rachel looked up at her girlfriend.

"I am so sorry." she said, burying her face in the Latina's chest and crying. Santana's eyes widened.

"Rach… what happened?" Santana asked. Rachel pulled away slightly. "After you tackled me and I got away from you, I headed in here. Before I could get inside, Callie came up to me." Rachel said. Santana's face clouded with anger.

"What did she say?" Santana demanded. Rachel bit her lip.

"She said that I was just a rebound and that I wasn't the first person that you'd almost gotten a red card for and I wouldn't be the last. She said that you would dump me as soon as we hooked up or Brittany came back, whichever came first. I brushed it off at first, but then when Quinn said that, it just… I don't know, it made what Callie said sound real and I couldn't deal with it, so I broke down. I'm sorry" Rachel said. Santana kissed her forehead.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I'll be right back." Santana said before exiting the locker room. Rachel ran after her.

"San! Santana, where are you going?" Rachel yelled. Santana ignored her and ran after her target. She cornered Callie against the bus.

"What do you want Lopez? I'm not like that and I don't think your precious girlfriend would appreciate it." Callie said. Santana resisted the urge to punch her and grabbed the girl's throat with her hand.

"How dare you say that kind of stuff to my girlfriend. You don't know anything about me and Brittany and you especially know nothing about me and Rachel! You think that you can just walk onto my campus and start messing everything up? You can't!" Santana yelled. Rachel ran up behind her.

"Santana, please stop." Rachel pleaded, noticing that Callie actually looked fearful for her life. "San…" Rachel whispered, not liking the look in Santana's eyes. She didn't recognize this Santana. It wasn't the gentle girl that she cared about. The crazy look in Santana's eyes was really unsettling. "San, you're scaring me. I don't like this. I don't like it at all." Rachel said, unconsciously backing away from her girlfriend. Those words seem to instantly snap Santana out of her rage.

"Rach… I am so sorry." Santana whispered, walking towards Rachel. "Babe, you don't have to be scared of me. I would never hurt you, I promise." Santana said. Rachel kept backing away slowly.

"What is going on?" Quinn asked. Santana never broke eye contact with Rachel as she spoke.

"It happened again, Quinn." Santana said. Rachel's eyes flashed of confusion.

"She has rage blackouts sometimes. It hasn't happened in a really long time, actually. It rarely happens, but it does occur." Quinn said, answering the diva's unspoken question. Suddenly, Santana was pushed from behind and fell into Rachel, causing both girls to fall onto the pavement. She whipped around to see Callie advancing on them. Rachel gently laid a hand on Santana's face and turned her to face Rachel.

"Look at me. Concentrate on me. Don't focus on anything else." Rachel whispered. Santana grabbed the diva's hand.

"But she could hurt you." Santana whispered. Rachel shook her head.

"Focus on me, Santana." Rachel said, seeing the gentleness that she was so used to seeing in the Latina's eyes return. "Focus on me." Rachel whispered. Santana nodded, but her eyes kept straying to the approaching girl.

"Rach…" Santana whispered. Rachel was trying not to look at Callie as she approached. Out of the corner of her eye, Santana saw a swinging motion and instantly pulled Rachel down, covering her head.

"Callie! Get on the bus. We are going to have a long talk!" Santana heard the voice of the opposing coach and breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you two okay?" she asked, helping the girls up as their own coach arrived.

"What is going on?" their coach asked. Quinn walked up.

"Callie went crazy." Quinn said simply. Santana nodded her confirmation, and pulled Rachel into a hug.

"Are you okay?" Santana whispered. Rachel nodded.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. If I hadn't done that we could have gotten out of the way." Rachel said. Santana kissed the top of her head.

"Babe, if you hadn't done that, who knows what I would have done. I wasn't completely calm yet. The slightest action from her and I would have snapped back into that rage blackout. Once I calm down from one, I'm okay, but until I'm completely calm… well you never know. You did an amazing job at trying to calm me down. Thank you." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "I don't exactly like that that happens to me." Santana continued. Rachel pulled the girl even closer to her.

"I will help you." Rachel said. Santana immediately read the double meaning.

"Thank you." she whispered.


	11. Chapter 11

Rachel barely spoke to anyone over the next couple of days and Santana was extremely worried. Apparently, so were a lot of people because Mercedes, Kurt, and Noah cornered Santana in the dining hall one mornin during breakfast. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Why the hell isn't Rachel talking to anyone?" Mercedes asked.

"Did you two get in a fight?" Kurt asked before Santana could answer the first question.

"No. We didn't get into a fight." Santana said.

"Lopez, if you hurt her-"

"You'll do what, Puckerman? Huh? Rachel's _my_ girlfriend. I'm just as concerned as you three are. She's still freaked out about what happened at the game and she's not really in a talkative mood." Santana said. Mercedes and Kurt nodded while Noah glared.

"If you have something to say, then just say it? Stop beating around the fucking bush, Puckerman." the Latina growled.

"Stop messing with Rachel. We all know that if Brittany was here you wouldn't even be looking her way." he said.

"If Brittany were here I probably wouldn't have met Rachel. But she's not and I did. And how do you even know I wouldn't be with Rachel regardless of Brittany being here? Brittany never wanted what Rachel and I have." Santana said.

"Which is?"

"An exclusive relationship. By the time I met Rachel, I was tired of Brittany's games." Santana said.

"And Rachel was the perfect distraction." he accused. Santana's eyes narrowed.

"Rachel's my girlfriend. I care about her. If you three are really her friends, you'll accept that we're together and that I make her happy." she said.

"When you're not in a rage blackout." Noah muttered.

"Puckerman, that's it! I've had enough of you! I'd never hurt Rachel, rage blackout or not!" Santana yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the dining hall, including Rachel who had just walked through the doors with Quinn.

"You don't know anything about me and Brittany or me and Rachel, so just mind your own business! There's no me and Brittany anymore, because there's a me and Rachel. I don't want there to be a me and Brittany anymore! I'm with Rachel and you're just going to have to learn to deal with it!" Santana yelled. Sharing a look with Quinn, Rachel rushed over to the arguing pair.

"What's going on?" she asked. Santana looked over and Rachel searched her eyes carefully, relaxing when she saw the gentleness that was her girlfriend.

"Nothing, Rach." Noah said. Santana's head snapped to the side.

"Like hell. Your friends were asking about you, which I totally get and all. Mercedes and Kurt did nothing, but then Puckerman had to get all crazy and shit. Like he was questioning how serious I am about you and about us!" Santana said. Rache looked at Noah.

"Is that true?" she asked. He shrugged. "_Noah_. Don't lie to me." He nodded and Rachel turned to Santana. "How serious about us are you?" she asked quietly. Santana's jaw dropped.

"You too, Rach? You know that I'm crazy about you!" she said. Rachel looked down. "You do know that, right?" Santana asked quietly.

"Santana, you really scared me the other night." Rachel said softly. Santana looked away.

"Do you trust me?" she whispered.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Do you trust me?" Santana asked louder. Rachel bit her lip. "If you don't trust me, then why are you even with me?" she asked. Rachel opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Scoffing, Santana nodded. "Fine. Whatever. We can just be roommates, if that's what you want." Santana said, grabbing her tray and walking away.

"Are you gonna go after her?" Kurt asked. Rachel shrugged.

"Rachel... she made a mistake. She was just trying to protect you from Callie." Quinn said, having followed Rachel. Rachel looked over at her friend.

"I'm tired of Brittany's name always coming up." she said.

"Brittany is a part of Santana's past!" Quinn said.

"And apparently, so am I. Santana wants to break up." Rachel said.

"No she doesn't. She's just saying that. She doesn't want to break up with you." Quinn insisted. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously she does, because she just did. Its fine. I have to go, Quinn." Rachel said as she walked to the food line. Frowning, Quinn made her way to the table Santana had sat at.

"Are you okay, San?" Quinn asked.

"She doesn't trust me. How the fuck can she not trust me? I've never given her any reason not to!" Santana muttered. Quinn nodded.

"I'm really sorry, Santana." she said softly. Santana shrugged

"Its not like its your fault." she replied. Quinn looked down. "She doesn't trust me. I can't be with someone who doesn't trust me." Santana said.

"But-"

"You know, suddenly I'm not so hungry. Can we just go to class?" Santana asked. Quinn eyed her for a moment, but nodded. Across the room, Rachel watched her girl... well, _ex_-girlfriend leave the dining hall.

"That's just going to be awkward, isn't it?" she asked Mercedes.

"What? Living with your ex? I'm going to go with yes." she said. Rachel rolled her eyes. "Why'd you tell her that you don't trust her?" Mercedes asked. Rachel shrugged.

"I want to trust her. I used to trust her. But something about that night changed me. The look in her eyes terrified me beyond belief." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you know that Santana would never hurt you even if she _was_ in a rage blackout." Mercedes tried to reason. Rachel shrugged and looked away. Mercedes decided to drop the subject.

School was extremely awkward. Santana and Rachel had gotten so used to sitting by each other that they both immediately headed for their regular seats next to each other. Awkwardly, Rachel moved over a few seats, and Santana did the same so that all of their regular group was between them.

It wasn't until they breaked for soccer that it got _really _awkward. The capitans always held team meetings during lunch so that they could have productive practices after school. The team could definitely tell something was up between their capitans. They had been very accepting of Santana and Rachel as a couple so they could tell something was off.

"Okay, so..." Santana trailed off, suddenly very insecure. Usually during these meetings, she had Rachel right next to her, even before she'd been made a capitan. Santana had always stood next to wherever she happened to be sitting. Rachel, not meeting Santana's gaze, looked at the white board. "So, um..."

"Is everything okay?" Tiffany asked.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, something seems off. Quinn's glaring at Rachel and you two-" she motioned between Rachel and Santana. "aren't even standing next to each other." she said. Rachel sighed.

"Everything's fine. Why don't we just hear what Santana has to say?" Rachel suggested.

"I forgot. Let's just go ahead and go. See you all this afternoon." Santana said. When Santana went to get her soccer stuff that afternoon, she found Rachel in their room as well. "Can we talk?" the Latina asked. Hesitantly, Rachel nodded.

"San, its not that I don't trust you... I just..." Rachel trailed off.

"Look, I know that I scared you and I'm sorry. I was trying to protect you from Callie and you know that I'd never hurt you." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "Babe, I don't want to break up. But if you can't trust that I'd never even raise a hand to you, let alone hit you, then we definitely aren't going to work out." Santana continued. Rachel bit her lip before surging forward, kissing the Latina and wrapping her arms around her neck.

"I trust you. I promise." Rachel whispered. Santana grinned and pushed Rachel onto the diva's bed.

"What do you say we skip practice today?" Santana asked softly.

"San, we can't!" Rachel said.

"Sure we can. Watch this." Santana pulled out her phone. "Hey Q?"

_"San, get your ass out here! And where the fuck is your ex?"_

"My _girlfriend_ isn't feeling very well." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

_"Wait. You got back together? That was quick."_

"Yea. Anyway, Rachel isn't feeling well, if you get what I'm saying." Santana said.

_"You skipping practice to make out?"_

"Hell yes. Its scary how well you know me." Santana said.

_"Yea. I'll cover for you, S."_

"Thanks, Q. Bye." Santana said, hanging up the phone and turned to the diva next to her. "See? That was easy. Now, I believe I have to take care of you?" she said, grinning.

"You're insane." Rachel said, kissing her girlfriend. Santana groaned as her phone rang.

**Incoming Call**

**Quinn**

"What?" she yelled into the phone.

_"You guys need to get to the field. Now."_

"Why?" Santana asked.

_"Trust me." _

"Yea. Okay. We'll be right there." Santana said.

"What's up?" Rachel asked. Santana shrugged.

"Quinn said we need to get to the field. But I'm not being deprived of my Rachel Berry cuddles, so you're getting a piggyback ride, baby girl." Santana said, squatting down so the small brunette could get on her back. Carrying Rachel to the field, the couple laughed the entire walk. When Santana saw what Quinn had pulled them out of their safe haven for, she immediately stopped laughing and almost dropped her girlfriend.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Brittany looked over to see Santana gently setting Rachel on the ground.

"San!" she said excitedly, frowning as Santana pulled Rachel closer to her.

"I told you to go back to Miami." the Latina said. Brittany took a step forward, but Quinn stepped between them.

"San, I did it. I broke up with Mitch. I... I love you. I want to be with you." Brittany said. Santana gasped, Rachel's breath caught in her throat, and Quinn looked over at her friends with wide eyes as Brittany stepped around her and walked to Santana.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" she whispered, smiling. Santana's jaw dropped and Rachel took a step back.

"The dean readmitted me. They're putting a second bed in Quinn's room and I'm living there. But we can be together for real now." the tall blonde said. Santana bit her lip as she smiled softly.

"Britt..." Brittany smiled widely and Quinn didn't miss Rachel's hurt expression as Santana linked their hands together. "You know that that was what I always wanted." Santana said. Brittany grinned and Rachel looked down. Releasing the blonde's hand, Santana walked over to the diva. "But I'm with Rachel now. I don't want to be with anyone else." she continued. Brittany's jaw dropped.


	12. Chapter 12

"Why... why are you with her?" Brittany asked. Santana stared at her in disbelief.

"Because I care about her. I like her." she said. Brittany shook her head.

"You can't do this to me! We're supposed to be together. You and me. Not you and her!" Brittany yelled. Santana grabbed Rachel's hand and squeezed it to reassure her. "Next you're gonna tell me that she took my position." Brittany scoffed. Rachel and Santana looked down uncomfotably. Brittany turned arond to look at Quinn and saw her looking away. "She took my spot?" the taller blonde yelled.

"Its not like you were here." Tiffany said.

"You can't talk to me like that! I'm your capitan." Brittany said.

"Rachel's our third capitan." Tiffany said. Brittany turned to the small brunette.

"Well aren't you just living the dream. You happy now? You have my life. You have everything that I had. You have my room, my spot, my team, my friends, and my girl. You want my parents too?" she yelled. Rachel stepped back slightly and Santana stepped in front of her.

"Brittany, calm down. You aren't going to talk to her like that." the Latina growled. Their coach came onto the field.

"Lopez! Berry! Why aren't you suited out?"

"Sorry Coach. We got a little distracted." Rachel said. The coach looked past the two and saw Brittany.

"Pierce? What are you doing here?"

"I'm back, Coach. I'm back and I'm ready to play." Brittany said. The coach grinned.

"Welcome back, Pierce. We missed you here. You were a big part of our team. Irreplaceable." Rachel bit her lip and looked down.

"Coach..." Santana said softly, but she wasn't heard.

"Okay. We're going to spend practice working Pierce back into our line up. You two, go get suited out and get out here." Santana nodded and the two walked to the locker room.

"Rach, I'm sure she didn't mean it." Santana said quietly. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "Babe, are you okay?" her girlfriend asked, rubbing her shoulders.

"Yea... I'm fine. I guess I really am just a placeholder." she whispered.

"Not possible. You're my girlfriend and you're the best damn forward I've ever seen. You're not a placeholder." Santana said, getting dressed. Five minutes later, the couple was on the field and the group was warming up.

"Okay, so normal line up on the field except Pierce in for Berry." Santana sighed.

"Coach-"

"Lopez, this is how its going to be."

"But Coach Reynolds, what about Rachel?" Santana asked.

"Pierce was our forward last year and she helped us win state. She's our forward."

"But Coach, that's not fair." Quinn said. Everyone looked at her. "You can't just kick Rachel out of her spot. She was here when we needed a forward and frankly she's done amazing. The team immediately accepted her and even made her capitan. Brittany comes back and you immediately give her Rachel's spot. How is that right?" Santana nodded.

"Last year you guys would have fought for me to keep my spot!" Brittany said.

"Times have changed." Santana shot back.

"Lopez, Fabray... this is how its going to be." Coach Reynolds said.

"Well if that's how its going to be, then I quit." Santana said, turning to walk.

"Santana, don't. Its fine. It was her spot first." Rachel said. Santana turned around to look at her girlfriend.

"Rach, I don't care. That's not fair to you." she said. Rachel shook her head.

"Please just practice. I'll go sit on the side. Its fine." she whispered, walking to the side and sitting down on the bench. Santana looked over and saw her girlfriend trying not to look upset.

"No its not fine." Santana said. Everyone looked over at her.

"I don't care what you say Coach. This isn't right. Rachel was here when we needed her. You can't just kick her out of her spot the moment your _golden girl_ comes back into your life. Rachel is our new forward and capitan. You put Q and I in charge to make decisions that are best for the team and this is the right one. The team has unbelievable chemistry with Rachel and we shouldn't mess that up." Santana said. Brittany made her way to the Latina.

"San... I don't know what that new girl did to brainwash you but it has got to stop. You dont really care about that girl. You're just upset that I chose Mitch over you and you're trying to get back at me." she said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Santana hissed. Brittany nodded. "Listen closely Brittany. Rachel is my _girlfriend_."

"So was I!"

"No you weren't! You were never my girlfriend! You were my friend. You were my roommate. You were the girl I hooked up with. But you were _never_ my girlfriend, because _you_ didn't want to leave Mitch. Rachel just wants me! She doesn't want anyone else. You were never willing to do that for me!" Santana yelled. Brittany looked down and Rachel ran over.

"Santana, calm down." Rachel whispered. Santana continued to glare at Brittany. "San, I don't want a repeat of what happened with Callie."

"You met Callie?" Brittany asked. Rachel nodded. "She's a bitch, isn't she?"

"Yea she is." Rachel agreed softly before turning to her girlfriend. "Santana, come back to me. You're okay." Rachel whispered. Santana nodded after a few moments. "You good?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"Yea. I'm good." she whispered. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Rach, I'm good. I promise." Santana said. Rachel nodded and stepped back slightly. "Okay... Coach, what you're doing isn't fair to Rachel. I'm sorry, but its not fair." the Latina said calmly. Brittany glared at Santana as she spoke. Quinn walked over to the group.

"San, just let it go. She's not going to change her mind. Rach, I'm so sorry." Quinn said. Rachel shook her head.

"Don't even worry about it, Quinn. Its okay." Rachel whispered. Santana frowned at her girlfriend's upset face and turned toward the coach.

"This is messed up." Santana said, taking off her practice shirt so that she was standing in her sport bra. "I quit. No one is going to stop me." she said, throwing her shirt on the ground and walking to the locker room. Quinn nodded and did the same.

"I quit too." she said, following Santana. Rachel bit her lip and sighed as she followed her girlfriend and friend's actions.

"I'm sorry." she said, running after Santana and Quinn. She found them sitting on the benches in the locker room. When Santana saw Rachel, she stood up and wrapped her in a hug.

"Babe, I'm so sorry." she whispered, kissing her hair. Rachel smiled up at Santana, but the Latina could tell it was forced.

"Don't be. But you didn't have to do that." Rachel said.

"Sure we did." Quinn said. Rachel looked over. "You're my friend. You're her girlfriend. Of course we're going to stick up for you." Santana nodded.

"I will always defend you, Rach. Maybe we can try to get Mr. Schue to restart Glee Club? I'll admit I was a little bummed when Mr. Schue told us that it wasn't working."

_FLASHBACK_

_"Hey guys. I don't know how to tell you guys this, but... Glee Club isn't going to work out." Mr. Schue said. Everyone started yelling._

_"Wait. Why?" Santana asked, her arm around Rachel to calm the diva down._

_"Not enough money in the budget. I'm so proud of all the hard work you guys have put forth. I'm so sorry. I know you guys were looking forward to Sectionals, but there's nothing I can do." he said. Santana sighed and Rachel laid her head on the Latina's shoulder._

_END FLASHBACK_

"I don't know. You heard Mr. Schue. there's not enough money in the budget." Rachel said. Santana shrugged.

"We can try to find a way, babe." she said. Rachel nodded.

"Let's just get dressed and go." she suggested.


	13. Chapter 13

Santana woke up and stared at the girl across the room. She didn't know what it was about Rachel that got her heart going, but knew that the diva was doing something. Now that they were off of the soccer team, the couple and Quinn were on a mission to find another extracurricular. Westerly required all students to participate in at least one extracurricular activity and the girls had been given one week to find a new one.

Rachel woke up and felt a pair of eyes staring at her. Sitting up, she registered her girlfriend watching her. "Ugh... Don't look at me."

"Why not?" Santana asked.

"I look terrible." Rachel said. Santana smiled and walked over to the diva's bed.

"You look beautiful, mi estrella." she whispered, sliding under Rachel's covers. "You always look beautiful." she said, kissing Rachel.

"San, we have to find a new extracurricular activity." Rachel said against her lips.

"I know... Just kiss me for a bit okay?"

"Okay." Rachel whispered.

* * *

><p>"What about basketball?" Quinn suggested.<p>

"That's actually not bad, Q." Santana said, as she pulled Rachel into her lap. Rachel nodded and smiled. "I mean we played until sophomore year."

"I played back in Lima."

"Of course you did." Santana said quietly, causing Rachel to laugh. "Basketball it is then." she said. Rachel and Quinn nodded.

"Basketball." Rachel whispered, kissing Santana softly. 


	14. Chapter 14

"San." Santana turned around to see her girlfriend waiting for her by the locker room. It was still weird to her, playing basketball instead of soccer.

"Hey babe." she said, shooting a three pointer. "What's up?"

"Practice ended thirty minutes ago. You need to shower. We have plans, remember?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded. They were going to dinner with their friends and then going dancing. Everyone that would have been in the Glee Club was going.

"Yea. Sorry, I lost track of the time." she said, putting the ball up and running to get her stuff off. "Did you shower in here?"

"Yea. I didn't want to have wait for the shower in our room." Rachel said. Santana nodded and they went back to their room. While Santana showered, Rachel chose her outfit and got dressed before putting on her make up. Santana quickly dried and straightened her hair before getting dressed and putting on her make up. "You ready to go?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"You look hot, Rach." she whispered, kissing the smaller girl.

"As do you, Santana. Let's go." she said, grabbing her girlfriend's hand and heading toward one of the nicer restaraunts near campus.

* * *

><p>"What the hell is Brittany doing here?" Santana asked Quinn as they watched the blonde enter the teen club. The same teen club that the incident had occurred at.<p>

"No idea. I didn't tell her about this." Quinn answered, taking a sip of her Coke. Santana sighed as Brittany was hugged by a guy. "But it looks like she's not alone."

"She'll never change will she?" Santana asked. Quinn smiled softly.

"You have Rachel now." she said. Santana nodded, her eyes immediately finding the girl on the dance floor with Kurt and Mercedes.

"Yea." she said, smiling. Finn walked up.

"Hey San. Wanna dance?" he asked. Santana smiled at him before looking at Rachel in a silent question. Smiling, the brunette nodded and Santana allowed Finn to lead her out on the dance floor. "I'm glad we're still friends." he said in her ear, so he could be heard.

"So am I." she said, dancing with her friend. Rachel watched with a smile on her face before she was turned around by a newly-arrived Mike. Santana smiled at Finn before she was pulled away. "What the hell?" she yelled, whipping around to find Brittany grinning at her. "What do you want?"

"I want you." the blonde said, kissing Santana.

"Stop, Brittany!" Santana said. Brittany sighed.

"Will you at least dance with me? For old time's sake?" she requested. Santana sighed.

"I guess." she said. Brittany grinned and turned her around before they started grinding. Rachel looked over to see Santana dancing not with Finn, but with Brittany. Hurt, she started to walk back to where Quinn was sitting when Noah stopped her.

"Don't let Brittany do that. Lopez is _your_ girl, not hers." he said. Rachel looked up at him. "I know I was a jackass at the beginning, but you two really care about each other. I see that now. Don't let Brittany come in and start messing it up. Go get your girl." he said. Rachel nodded and headed toward her girlfriend and the girl that was in love with her.

"Santana?" she said, tapping the girl on the arm. Santana looked over before quickly pulling away from Brittany.

"Rach... That's... It wasn't what it looked like, I swear." she said quickly. Rachel nodded slowly.

"Yea, Rachel. We were just dancing. After we kissed I asked-"

"Wait. You kissed?" Rachel asked, glaring at Santana. Santana shook her head. "Santana." she hissed.

"She kissed me, I swear." Santana said, trying to grab Rachel's hand. "Rachel, don't shut me out like this, please." Santana begged.

"Just leave me alone." Rachel said, grabbing her stuff and walking out of the building.

"Rachel, wait. Damn it! I can't run in these shoes, please just wait." Santana said. Rachel sighed and kept walking toward campus. "Rachel!" Suddenly, a guy was in front of her.

"Hey sexy." he said. Rachel looked up at him with disgust.

"Leave me alone." she said, trying to push past him.

"Don't be like that." he said, trying to grab her. Suddenly he was on the ground in pain.

"She said back off douche bag." Santana said as he grabbed his crotch. "Run." she said, grabbing Rachel's hand and running off. Looking down, Rachel noticed she was barefoot. The pair didn't slow down until they were safely back on campus. "I'd stop to put on my shoes, but I'm afraid you'd walk off and leave me." Santana said. Rachel shook her head, not releasing Santana's hand.

"I'll wait." she said, allowing the Latina to sit down. "Thank you for doing that." she commented.

"You're my girlfriend. Of course I'd do that." Santana said, standing back up. She stared at Rachel's hand hesitantly and the brunette grabbed her girlfriend's hand, causing Santana to smile. "About Brittany... I was dancing with Finn and she came up and literally kissed me after pulling me away. Then she asked me to dance. I know I shouldn't have said yes, but I did. I'm sorry." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"I believe you."

"I would have kicked her ass, but I wanted to go after you. I'm glad I did, considering what happened." Santana said as they reached their room. Rachel smiled softly and unlocked their door. After changing in their pajamas, they laid down on Santana's bed with Santana's arms around Rachel. "I love you, Rach. I'd never let anything happen to you. Rachel whipped around.

"You love me?" she whispered.

"I... I think so... But we don't have to like say it if you're not ready." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Can we take it slow? I think I love you too, but let's take it slow and figure it out together." she whispered, kissing Santana. The Latina smiled and nodded, resting her forehead on her girlfriend's. "Can I sleep over here?"

"Of course." Santana whispered, hugging the diva close to her.


	15. Chapter 15

Santana quietly walked over to Rachel's bed and slipped under the covers, kissing her cheek. "Wake up." she whispered, smiling. Rachel's eyes slowly opened and she smiled when she saw Santana next to her.

"Good morning." she whispered, pulling Santana into a hug. Santana laughed softly.

"Good morning to you too." she said, kissing Rachel.

"Why are you waking me up? It's Saturday." Santana shrugged with a smile.

"I was thinking we could spend the day together. Just us, you know?" Rachel blushed and nodded.

"I'd love that." she said, leaning into Santana.

"Great! That's... That's awesome!"

"You make it sound unusual that I would agree to spend time with you. We're dating, Santana." Rachel teased.

"I know. It's just... With everything that's happened recently..."

"It's fine. Everything's fine, San." Rachel whispered. Santana nodded slowly.

"Today is gonna be-"

"Awesome?" Rachel teased. Santana glared. "Sorry, continue."

"I was gonna say amazing." she said. Rachel giggled and kissed her girlfriend.

"I agree. It will be amazing." she whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry its short, just trying to get back into this story!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Did we do something wrong?" Santana asked. She and Rachel had been called into the Dean's office.

"You two can no longer live together." Dean Barron said.

"What? Why?" Santana exclaimed.

"It has come to my attention that you two have become romantically involved with one another."

"That's old news, sir." Rachel said politely. Santana nodded.

"It has just recently come to my attention. If I'd known sooner, we would have had this conversation a long time ago." Santana sighed. "Rachel, you will move into room 228 in Franklin Hall with Quinn Fabray. Santana, you will be getting your old roommate back." Santana raised an eyebrow. "Brittany Pierce will be moving back into your room."

"Um..."" Santana looked at Rachel, who shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

* * *

><p>"I'm really sorry, babe." Santana said as she helped Rachel pack.<p>

"It's not your fault, San. We should have known that they wouldn't let us live together." Rachel said, allowing herself to be pulled into a hug.

"Yea, but I know you aren't a fan of Brittany."

"I trust you, sweetie." Santana smiled and kissed her girlfriend softly.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

><p><strong><em>One week later...<em>**

"So how's the new roommate situation?" Kurt asked as Rachel and Santana sat down at breakfast.

"It fucking sucks. Brittany keeps hitting on me." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Rach, I'm completely in love with you. You have nothing to worry about."

"I know... I just wish there was something we could do. I miss you."

"Who even told?" Santana shrugged. "You know, nowhere does it say that students who are romantically involved can't live together." Rachel and Santana grinned.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe Brittany ratted us out." Santana said as she helped Rachel unpack. They'd successfully gotten the room change reversed and Rachel was back in the room with Santana.<p>

"I can. She wants you back, San." Rachel said. Santana hugged her from behind.

"I only want you, Rachel. You're all I need." she whispered, kissing the brunette.


End file.
